Kootenay residents can have their say on the HST in an upcoming conference call with a provincial government minister.
Around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday night every publicly listed telephone number in the region will receive a call. The recorded message will ask if you’re interested in attending the “tele-town hall.” If you are, stay on the line and if not, hang up.
For those who stay on the line, a moderator will introduce you to the call and explain how you can ask a question. To avoid duplicate questions, participants will go through an operator first.
The evening’s host will be Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom. The tele-town halls will take place across B.C. over the course of at least a week. An additional day of May 10 is being held in case some nights need to be adjusted due to Canucks games.
Stephen Owen, a former B.C. Ombudsman has been appointed by the provincial government to make sure public funding is equal for both sides of the upcoming HST referendum.
He has allocated $500,000 in provincial funding to the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ sides and it’s his job to oversee public dialogues across the province at colleges, universities and institutes, all of which will be announced later this spring.