Article content continued

Nanaimo-area MLAs were on the receiving end of complaints by local voters prior to James exempting the Gulf Islands in March. It got so heated for Nanaimo-North Cowichan NDP MLA Doug Routley that during a telephone town hall he had to parachute his constituency assistant on to the line to lower the temperature with puffball questions.

The dynamics of a Nanaimo byelection will be largely shaped by when Premier Horgan chooses to call the race, the star power of any B.C. Liberal contender, the quality of Krog’s replacement and a variety of other local factors. But dissatisfaction with the speculation tax is certainly part of the mix.

Should the NDP lose Nanaimo, it would deadlock the legislature in a tie of 43 seats, forcing the Speaker to break the votes and likely cutting short Horgan’s minority government.

The NDP has no one to blame but itself for the political fallout.

The government gave the tax a misleading name; it is more of a vacancy tax than any serious measure to curb speculation. It was billed as a way to target wealthy foreign buyers, and James at first claimed B.C. residents wouldn’t get dinged — while in reality two-thirds of the people to be hit by the speculation tax will be B.C. residents with second homes or vacation properties.

The exact date the tax will come into effect is still unknown, more than four months after it was announced in the budget. And everything known so far has come from press releases, because the actual law and regulations haven’t even been written yet.

Behind-the-scenes, government officials have given every indication that one retreat by the finance minister was enough, and the speculation tax is not open for further revision.

The NDP had thought the fight was won. Turns out, it’s only just beginning.

rshaw@postmedia.com

twitter.com/robshaw_vansun

Related

CLICK HERE to report a typo.

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com

You might also like: