In order to have petitions ready to be delivered to Bill Vander Zalm by tomorrow, the local organizer of the Fight HST initiative campaign held its last signing event Saturday at Nanaimo North Town Centre.
Terry Hand said it has been whirlwind campaign since the initiative process was approved on April 6.
He's pleased with the results, which gathered 38,398 signatures from the four provincial ridings he was responsible for.
The final breakdown of signatures is as follows: Nanaimo 8,120, Parksville-Qualicum 11,382, Nanaimo North Cowichan 10,344 and Cowichan Valley 8,552.
"I consider this to be a remarkable show of solidarity on the part of the people," said Hand. "All signature petitions will be delivered to Mr. Vander Zalm by June 29 and subsequently to Elections B.C. "
Hand said he appreciated all the support the mid-Island campaign received from volunteer canvassers for "their unprecedented commitment of time and energy, their sacrifice and hard work which has assisted the people of B.C. to exercise a fundamental democratic right."
He also praised the assistance of mall owners and managers for contributing space which allowed his volunteers to set up locations for people to come and sign the anti-HST petition.
Hand said he received a lot of help from both the right wing and left wing of the political spectrum on the mid-Island.
Hand said that without the help of the B.C. Refederation Party or the New Democrats, "I would not have been able to organize the over 450 volunteer canvassers and captains."
His one regret is that there may be people who wanted to sign the petition within his region, from Parksville to Duncan, but were unable to.
"To those people I say please be patient your opportunity may come in November should a recall become necessary."
Related Stories
