B次元官网网址淵es, we have no bananas.B次元官网网址� That old song came to mind when I scanned the pile of harmonised sales tax envelopes that must fit inside one another for the vote.

The 1922 song could be replayed at an evening of ancient musical nonsense. Beyond nostalgia, however, the title strikes a modern political chord.

In B.C.B次元官网网址檚 double-sided flirtation with direct democracy, B次元官网网址測esB次元官网网址� also means B次元官网网址渘o.B次元官网网址�

Yes, we want to abolish the HST. An X on B次元官网网址測esB次元官网网址� registers that decision. And it gives half an answer to an underlying political puzzle.

No, we reject the clumsy, deceitful way the tax was sneaked in. A B次元官网网址測esB次元官网网址� majority says B次元官网网址渘oB次元官网网址� to the government itself. ThatB次元官网网址檚 the second half.

B.C. premier Christy Clark helped draft the 2001 Liberal platform which promised not to privatize publicly-owned BC Rail.

She supported former premier Gordon CampbellB次元官网网址檚 regime when it broke its word about the railway.  She and colleagues who endorsed CampbellB次元官网网址檚 policies must carry the blame for the HST foul up.

Remembering these and other betrayals when we say B次元官网网址測esB次元官网网址� to cancelling the tax, we are also telling the present government, B次元官网网址渘o, we donB次元官网网址檛 want to keep you on the payroll.B次元官网网址�

ThatB次元官网网址檚 my personal take on the vote and my wish for its outcome.

Cancelling the HST will confer long-term blessings on us if it opens the way to rebuilding the tax system through provincial-federal public conferences that bypass the formal constitutional deadlock but link together experts, visionaries, lobby group pleaders, political technicians and taxpayers.

Inventive leadership is one requirement for such system-changing mobilization of popular thought. So it seems to me as I fidget with the ballot papers.

On the topic of clever leadership, Todd Stewart of View Royal misunderstands a recent column. He rebukes me in a letter to the editor, for my suggestion that former Senate page Brigette DePape, who grabbed national headlines by displaying a B次元官网网址淪top HarperB次元官网网址� sign during the Speech from the Throne, has the right stuff to be a future prime minister.

B次元官网网址淵ou would have us believe that Miss DePape is a simple page?B次元官网网址� Mr. Stewart asks.

No, I wouldnB次元官网网址檛. Mr. Stewart and I are talking past one another when he writes: B次元官网网址淪he is an activist and is known for protesting.B次元官网网址�

Good for her, I say. It never occurred to me that she might be seen as a B次元官网网址渟imple page.B次元官网网址� I was impressed by her brilliantly-planned stunt. In a world that cries out for an alternative to Liberal-Conservative orthodoxy with its domination by corporate money twisters, there is no better qualification for political star status than being a crafty yet principled rebel.

The people who are now revered as political saints were wily, devious operators B次元官网网址� rather like Ms. DePape. You donB次元官网网址檛 climb to a high political perch unless you are.

U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt was as wily as they get. A shrewd brain prompted his actions to relieve the great economic depression of the 1930s and steer isolationist America into coming to BritainB次元官网网址檚 aid in the second World War.

Lord Louis Mountbatten said wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill was B次元官网网址渢he canny political animal, very devious, bursting with energy and determination.B次元官网网址�

Why is lying and promise breaking OK for FDR and other political masters, but not OK for B.C.B次元官网网址檚 Campbell and Clark?

Arguably, two words make the difference: competent management.

gemort@pacificcoast.net

B次元官网网址擥.E. Mortimore is a Langford-based writer. Think About It appears every second week in the Gazette.