Contrary to the opinion he is getting from some of his constituents, rookie Kelowna-Lake Country Liberal MLA Norm Letnick says harmonizing the provincial sales tax and the GST is the way to go.

And, because of that, Letnick, a business professor at Okanagan College, says he was happy to hear in Tuesday's Throne speech, the renewed commitment to introduce an HST in this province next year.

“Personally, I believe the HST is the right move for our economy,” said Letnick, elected to the Legislature for the first time in May. “With Ontario going with (an HST), we need to be competitive.”

Agreeing with the speech that B.C. is currently facing severe economic challenges, Letnick said this province has never seen the multi-billion dollar drop in revenue like the one currently being experienced.

But while he is optimistic about the future, Letnick concedes in the short-term, strong measures will have to be taken to right the economy.

He said feedback he has received about the HST has come from both supporters and opponents. But he declined to say which view was prominent, claiming not to have taken any sort of a poll of the opinions.

But, he added, when he talks to opponents and explains aspects of the planned new single tax, it opens some peoples' eyes to what he feels are the positives of the new tax.

The Throne speech, where government lays out its overall plan for the upcoming session of the Legislature, made it clear B.C. does not have any money to spend on what the speech called discretionary spending.

“The fiscal cupboard is bare and hangs on a wall of deficit spending,” it said.

It added that while it has no money for public sector wage increases either, it will not rollback those wages.

A new provincial budget, to replace the one introduced prior to May’s election, will be brought down next week. It is expected to include a projected $3-billion deficit.

Finance Minister Colin Hansen, who will be in Kelowna to talk about the budget Sept. 9, has said B.C. will have deficit budgets for the next four years.

For Letnick, as well as his local Liberal caucus mate, Kelowna-Mission MLA and Agriculture Minister Steve Thomson, the Throne speech was their first as elected MLAs.

Thomson agreed with Letnick that the HST is the right way to go for the government. But he admitted it is not popular with many of his constituents and he has been hearing from residents.

"But we were not elected to do what's popular," he said. "We were elected to do the right thing."

With its predicted effect of lowering costs for business, Thomson said business people he has talked to have been generally supportive of the HST and the effect it will have on the economy.

"And everyone in B.C. will benefit from a stronger economy," said Thomson.

The throne speech also talked about the upcoming winter Olympics and the need for B.C. to start looking beyond the 2010 Games.

"The Olympics will be a great event and springboard for further economic recovery," said Thomson, adding the government has already started planning for life after the Games.

For Letnick, the games are coming at what he says is a perfect time to propel the B.C. economy forward.

He lived in Banff and Canmore after the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics and said the economies of those areas benefited greatly as a result of the 1988 winter Olympic Games.

Both Thomson and Letnick called the Throne speech a clear vision for the future, one that addresses the realities of the current economic situation and what has to be done.

One area that caught Thomson's attention was the announcement of the introduction of full-time kindergarten for five-year-old children in B.C. as of next year.

He said while some may not have been expecting that, given the tight budgets around government spending, he said the move is an important one for children in this province.

In light of that, both men described the speech as also providing hope in a time of economic uncertainty.

awaters@kelownacapnews.com