Why Should Campbell Resign Now?

(Aired on September 10, 2010)

The timing for this cry for Gordon Campbell's head is a little odd right now.  We've known about the Harmonized Sales Tax for a while now.  And ever since the surprise announcement last summer that the tax was happening, the call for Campbell to step down or retire has been a general dull roar.  Cabinet minister Blair Lekstrom resigned, but other than that, the level of discontent inside the Liberal circle has been minimal.  Now, however, it's starting to snowball.  Donna Barnett's former riding association executive secretary is the latest to add his voice the choir. 

But once again, it's the timing that is a bit confusing.  The height of the HST deception happened when the tax was announced, just a few months after Finance Minister Colin Hansen swore up and down that it wasn't being considered.  The feeling of betrayal by the party rank and file should have been at its zenith in the weeks following that epic flip-flop. 

Today, the HST has taken effect.  There is still anger over the tax, but at the very least, a legislative committee is looking into the initiative petition opposing the HST is meeting now.  It will force action on the tax, whether that's by asking MLAs, or by asking all British Columbians.  The end result - somewhere a long way down the line - could result in the HST being lifted.  Campbell is at the point now where his party will live or die in spite of him, not because of him.  For so-called Liberal insiders to be coming out of the woodwork now, calling for Campbell's head, smacks of pure opportunism.

If it was up to me, the exact moment Gordon Campbell should have resigned was in January of 2003, when he was arrested for drunk driving in Maui.  If you ask me, that's a more heinous offense than changing tax policy.