What checks and balances? Current system has one man Gordon Campbell dictatin...g to the rest of BC, Where were the checks and balances that should have prevented them from signing the HST without lawful authority?

in the words of Bill Vand...er Zalm "The essence of the Petition is that the provincial Cabinet has unlawfully imposed a tax on the citizens of B.C. without legislative authority". What checks and balances prevented the City of Vancouver from trampling on the rights of citizens during the Olympics with their totally unlawful sign bylaw? What checks and balances permitted a central government created by the provinces to become stronger and more powerful than those same provinces that created it. In 1864?

The provinces are and always were autonomous and it was the three provinces that created the central government and gave it LIMITED powers for raising revenue. Direct taxation of Canadians was specifically denied to the federal government. That is why the Federal government is obliged to get permission from the provinces in that regard. An example would be when the feds asked the provinces in 1917 if they could direct tax Canadians on a TEMPORARY basis to help pay for the cost of WWI. That tax, "income tax" , is still with us 90 years later, temporary must have a different definition at the federal level. Yet the federal government met all of its service obligations to the provinces before 1917 without the "income tax".

Another example is how the federal government uses BC taxpayer money to dangle a 1.6 billion dollar carrot in front of the provincial donkey [Liberal government] to lure it into introducing the HST (of course there are corporate incentives too).

In Ontario they used Ontario taxpayer money to give Ontario taxpayers a bonus cheque as the sugar to swallow (accept) the HST.

In the Maritime provinces they used taxpayer money to lower the existing tax in order to implement HST. Then recently they raised the tax.

Most definitely the Refederation party is all about unifying Canada but it cannot be done at the federal level since the provinces created the central government they alone have the power over it, but first the people must get authority over their provincial government. Once the people have authoritative control of the provincial government then negotiations can begin with Ottawa regarding how much we [BC] are willing to pay for services except we will be negotiating from a position of strength because will will have the tax revenues not Ottawa and he that holds the purse negotiates from a position of strength. This is opposite to what we have currently whereby we send the money [your money] to Ottawa then Ottawa after wasting most of it on gun registry, sponsorship scandals and dozens of other methods of squander, tell us [BC] how much they are willing to give back of our money and what services we will receive.

When the Refed government is successful in BC then other provinces would follow suit (we already have the Alberta Refederation Association http://www.abrefed.com/ and we have inquiries from several other provinces). With the people having authority over their respective provincial governments (which was the intention of creating government in the first place) and the provinces controlling the federal government and having it working in the interest of Canadians and for Canada as a whole then we have a unified and more efficient Canada. That is the Refed plan.

No we are as far removed from the Tea parties as you can get. What we are doing is getting back to what was intended when confederation was considered (this information is available on our website http://www.refedbc.com/ please do look all. Claims made by Refed can be backed up with documents( and government documents)

You say "We need government that is run in the public interest, not in the interest of the private corporations". On this point you are preaching to the choir (and I will expand on that by saying that the public know more about what the public needs than any politician or corporation) That is our aim. That is the one reason we exist and the reason we will not accept donations from Unions, and large Corporations because we do not want to be in their pocket. In fact much of what you are saying is in total agreement with our policies. If you would go and research our website you will see this for yourself.

You say "A centralized federal government if being run with the public interest in mind can help protect against big corporations much better than 13 small provincial governments all trying to compete with one another for jobs. " History has shown that is not true. Look at the TILMA, NAFTA, SPP/NAU etc. In most cases it is the federal government that is signing off on these agreements. The provinces and municipal governments are many times duped into these legally binding agreements.

Corporate control at the Provincial, and Federal level is more prevalent today than at any time in history and it is not going to diminish until we the people stop it. Case in point Vancouver law allowing police, private security firms, and other agencies to walk into your home with no warrant, simply for placing a sign with any statement that was DEEMED to be negative to the Olympic games, and or its corporate sponsors. The whole reason for the constant and unrelenting grabs for provincial power is because the provinces still have power. The federal government needs to usurp this power in order to have total control and fulfill any plans it has with foreign interests. The income tax, GST, and HST are excellent examples of the transferring of power or sovereignty if you will to the feds. Quebec is the smart province when they implemented the HST they reserved the right to collect it.