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This article was published 7/10/2014 (2175 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Opposition Progressive Conservatives have given up their legal fight to overturn last year’s PST hike.

Instead of taking their fight to the Manitoba Court of Appeal, they will take their case to the court of public opinion, Tory Leader Brian Pallister said this morning.

Tory Leader Brian Pallister

In a 15-page decision in July, Court of Queen’s Bench Judge Kenneth Hanssen said Pallister and his party didn’t have a legal leg to stand on in challenging the legality of the tax hike.

They had argued in court that the tax hike should be reversed because it was carried out without a referendum. But the judge rejected the argument.

The NDP’s Bill 20, passed after months of debate, hiked the provincial sales tax and did away with the need for a referendum on the matter in a single piece of legislation.

Pallister said the Progressive Conservatives decided against an appeal, not because they didn’t feel they had a case, but because of how long the process would take. The case would unlikely be heard until after the next provincial election, he said.

He said Manitoba voters will be the ultimate arbiters as to whether the tax hike was legal or fair.