As British Columbians anxiously await Friday’s HST referendum results, the political implications for Premier Christy Clark and the B.C. Liberals are also up in the air.
“My prediction is that (the HST’s opponents) will win,” said Simon Fraser political science Prof. Marjorie Cohen.
“And then, of course, (the Liberals) will have to come up with something that’s going to satisfy people, and that’s not going to be easy.”
Cohen added that in the event the referendum result is not in the Liberals’ favour, their political defeat in the next election would not be a foregone conclusion.
However, other factors — such as the potential rate hikes for BC Hydro customers and the proposed sailing cancellations for BC Ferries — are also likely to irk the province’s electorate, she said.
Meanwhile, the rate of unemployment in B.C. fell 6.6 per cent from June 2010 to June 2011 — but it’s too soon to tell if the HST has bolstered job numbers, said recruiter and employment expert David Litherland.
“I haven’t had any of my clients, nor any of the employees in my office, state that the hiring they’ve been doing has solely been because of the advantages the HST has shown,” he said.
“So it’s not as if companies have found this pot of gold at the end of the rainbow called the HST.”
Litherland credits the entrepreneurial spirit of British Columbians — and economic partnerships with emerging economies in Asia — for stimulating domestic job growth, but acknowledges that the HST may be a latent factor.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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