To the editor:

I am writing about Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett’s comments in the page 13 story, headlined Barnett defends HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) as necessary.

In the story, she says: “It will help revitalize our resource industries....”

The resource industries are in the dumps and will be there for years to come. You can’t make or save money if you can’t sell your products.

She says: “... it will have a positive impact on budgets of the provincial government....”

The $1.6 billion carrot for the Olympics and the transfer payments might help once we are a “have not” province.

She says: “... it will provide some of the dollars necessary for ever-increasing health care and education costs.”

The B.C. Nurses Union says: “2002-2004 almost 1,300 hospital beds closed.” In 2006, “4,000 long-term care beds for seniors closed.” The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation says: “Between 2002 and 2008, 26,000 students have been displaced as a result of school closures.”

There are tens of thousands of mental-health patients who were moved into the communities in B.C. because of the closure of mental health facilities. Too many of them are among the homeless.

Does COTA support the HST? Mrs. Barnett danced around that issue. Pat Corbett, The Hills Resort owner says, while he’s not a fan of the HST, he doesn’t think Barnett has abandoned tourism operators. He says the fault is not Barnett’s; it’s the premier and his cabinet.

Who does Mr. Corbett think she gets her orders from? She certainly isn’t getting them from her electors. The vast majority of letters are anti-HST.

How can she ignore that? According to one of her previous stories, her support of the HST is the result of “doing her homework.” She has not explained that and I doubt that she ever can.

According to my monthly bills for the last 12 months, my electricity, phone and TV will cost me over $175 more, under the HST. If not for heating as much as possible with wood, my electric heat would drive that number well over $200. There will be no more renting cross-country skis at the Hills Resort or dinners in local restaurants.

Need more money without taxing? Then spend smarter. Budget the way most Canadian families do, just to get by.

The vast majority of us are not going to the Olympics; we can’t afford it.

Why should we pay for politicians to go? Mrs. Barnett says we can’t afford it. Someone needs to wake up.

Art Richards

100 Mile House