Bill Vander Zalm’s citizen’s initiative against the proposed Harmonised Sales Tax (HST) is going to be kicking into high gear in the new year. The HST would merge the federal GST with the provincial PST, resulting in a 12% tax that applies to hundreds of items that are currently PST-exempt. There will be efforts in every riding in the province, including our riding of “Juan de Fuca”.

I am opposed to the HST because it would remove tax exemptions currently enjoyed by positive things in society (bicycles, energy efficient technologies, etc.), and I plan to be involved in the fight against it. Inside Langford could create an HST section for this issue, similar to our “ALR”, “Reader News”, and “Langford Community Calendar” sections to act as a hub for information on local efforts to fight the HST. Alternately, I could create a separate HST-only website, or even do both. What do Inside Langford readers think of these suggestions? Below is a poll asking this very question (please note that multiple answers are allowed, if you agree with more than one response, plus there’s the ability to add your own response if none of the responses is your preferred choice):

Thank you to everyone who offers their opinion.

Those wishing to provide more information may email me at: steven.hurdle@gmail.com. While email is preferred, if you’re unable to email me you may call me at 250-885-0717.

I’ve linked in the past to other news sources in Langford (such as the City of Langford website, the sometimes satirical and sometimes serious WTF Langford blog, I have linked to Vibrant Victoria articles, and readers have submitted several of their own via Inside Langford’s Reader News. Here’s another one that’s proving to be a great resource for those interested in local food security and other agricultural and green issues.

GreenLangford.ca is about agriculture, food security, and eco-tourism, and has as its byline “A Vision For Langford: food security / eco-food tourism”. As I write this, the main page has a lot of information for people interested in the ten proposed exclusions (removals) of land from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) in Langford, including information on what to do if you want to leave last-minute input in the process before the final decision is made by the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) Dec. 17-18th. If you want to read more about Langford’s Agricultural Strategy, created by Langford at the suggestion of the ALC after the recent exclusion process began, Green Langford has it nicely formatted under “Agricultural Strategy” on the right sidebar of the site.