FIGHT HST TO LAUNCH NEW RECALL IN VERNON-MONASHEE ON MARCH 15

Jan 14, 2011 Press Release

FIGHT HST TO LAUNCH NEW RECALL IN VERNON-MONASHEE ON MARCH 15

Vander Zalm: Desire for Recall in Thompson-Okanagan strong and growing

VERNON – (Thursday, January 13, 2011) – Speaking to a standing room only crowd of over 200 people at the Schubert Centre in Vernon today, Fight HST Leader Bill Vander Zalm told the gathering that the anti-HST Recall campaign is starting to gather steam across the province in much the same way as the Initiative petition first began.

“Now that the Christmas break is over, we are seeing more and more people turning their attention to Recalls as the best way to hold the government to account on the HST. This huge turnout today is a sign of the momentum that is starting to build across the province, and shows that the people here are ready to roll up their sleeves,” Vander Zalm said to booming applause from the enthusiastic crowd.

“More canvassers are signing up in Oak Bay-Gordon Head to help put Recall over the top there. We had a terrific meeting in a snowy Kamloops last night with 45 canvassers to kick off that campaign, and now this! It’s Faaaaaantastic!”

Vander Zalm pointed out that Fight HST also has very strong teams in Kamloops North and Comox Valley, where Recalls were launched this week. “As people see every one of the BC Liberal leadership candidates come out strongly in support of the HST, they are quickly realizing that Recall is the only way to get the government to listen and end this tax.”

Fight HST Lead Organizer, Chris Delaney, told the assembly that a Vernon Recall is certain to succeed, given the strong support he has heard from people there for the past several weeks leading up to the meeting today. “The fact that you now have 300 canvassers signed up puts you well ahead of the rest of the province starting out.”

Recall proponent Tom Holmes announced that the steering committee for Vernon Fight HST has set a date of March 15 to begin Recall there. “We have a core group of 5 organizers and over 300 canvassers signed up. We are serving notice to Eric Foster that we want a new MLA that will listen to the people. We don’t want to be told what to think by this government anymore.”

Vander Zalm said that Vernon is the epicenter of democracy in BC, with a strong streak of independent thinking and a passion for political activism.

“We know that the Recall rules were written to make it next to impossible. But like with the Initiative petition, the sheer will of the people of BC will make it work. Vernon will be the fifth or sixth Recall in the campaign. As each Recall is launched, we learn from them and increase our chances of success,” said Vander Zalm.

Vander Zalm says he is concerned that in addition to the strong support for the HST by the Liberal leadership candidates, the big business lobby that tried to scuttle the anti-HST petition in court will do the same with the upcoming planned referendum on the HST scheduled for September 24, 2011. “We know from experience they will try to tie it up in court for years so we are saddled with it forever. We’re not going to let that happen. Recalls are the only way now to stop them from using every trick in the book to keep the HST.”

Vander Zalm says the Fight HST group will be the first to successfully Recall an MLA in BC.

“Once that happens, more will follow until the HST is gone from BC forever!” Vander Zalm concluded to thunderous cheers.

Share on Facebook

Tags: applause, bill vander zalm, canvassers, chris delaney, comox valley, core group, desire, enthusiastic crowd, initiative petition, leadership candidates, momentum, monashee, organizers, proponent, schubert, steam, steering committee, tax fight, thompson okanagan, tom holmes

PRESS RELEASE: RECALL RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN CONTINUES TO BUILD MOMENTUM ACROSS BC

Oct 25, 2010 Press Release

WEEK FOUR OF RECALL RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN CONTINUES TO BUILD MOMENTUM ACROSS BC

Comox Valley moves into  4^th place with 140 canvassers challenging top three Recall ridings

PORT COQUITLAM – After four weeks of competing to see which ridings will be amoung the first to conduct Recalls under the Fight HST banner another 266 people have volunteered bringing the total to 2,631 canvasser’s province wide.

Fight HST Lead Organizer, Chris Delaney, says the biggest gain was made in Don McRae’s Comox Valley riding, which shot up from 90 to 140 canvassers in one week putting them solidly in fourth place behind Oak Bay Gordon Head in first place with 189 canvassers, followed by Cariboo-Chilcotin in second place with 174 canvassers, and Kamloops North in third with 162 canvassers.

“Most of the ridings with big numbers saw an even larger jump this past week, probably due to voter anger over the Basi-Virk deal made by the government,” said Delaney. “That only fueled the anti-HST fire. People are furious with the government and there can be no question that is adding momentum to our Recall campaign.”

Delaney says Boundary-Similkameen with 139 volunteers and Saanich North with 132 are in a tight three way race for 4^th place with Comox Valley. He says Parksville-Qualicum and Maple Ridge Mission are in 5^th and 6^th place, with 132 and 106 volunteers respectively.

“It is very competitive right now in 8 of the 18 ridings. The other ten all have a solid base of canvassers that even now could launch successful Recalls with the right strategy. For example, Kelowna has a collective total of 135 canvassers signed up and there is talk of pooling their resources and targeting one candidate instead of three there,” said Delaney.

“With three weeks left to go it is anyone’s race to win – except the Liberals’ of course,” Delaney concluded.

Following are the results from Week Four of the HST Survivor Recall contest:

Constituency	MLA	Running Totals
Boundary Similkameen	John Slater	139
Cariboo Chilcotin	Donna Barnett	174
Comox Valley	Don McRae	140
Chilliwack	John Les	98
Kamloops North	Terry Lake	162
Kelowna Lake Country	Norm Letnick	48
Kelowna Mission	Steve Thompson	51
Kelowna Westside	Ben Stewart	36
Kootenay East	Bill Bennett	31
Maple Ridge – Mission	Marc Dalton	106
N. Vancouver-Seymour	Jane Thornthwaite	37
Oak Bay – Gordon Head	Ida Chong	189
Parksville Qualicum	Ron Cantelon	122
Penticton	Bill Barisoff	43
Quilchena	Colin Hansen	98
Saanich North & Islands	Murray Coell	132
Vernon Monashee	Eric Foster	51
West Vancouver STS	Joan McIntyre	68
Recall Ridings	Sub total	1725
All Other Ridings	Volunteers at Large	906
	RUNNING TOTALS (ALL)	2631

Share on Facebook

Tags: basi, big numbers, canvassers, chilcotin, chris delaney, comox valley, constituency, john slater, kelowna, Liberals, maple ridge, momentum, parksville qualicum, port coquitlam, recruitment campaign, saanich, th place, volunteers, voter anger