Elections B.C. said today it has no plans to change the harmonized sales tax referendum timetable even though Canada Post has locked out its employees Tuesday evening.
It's unclear how long a lock-out might last. The Conservative federal government has signalled its readying back-to-work legislation that could see resumption of mail services as early as next week.
Elections B.C. is continuing to produce the HST referendum voting ballots, some of which have already been mailed out, including in Prince George. Under the existing timeline, voters have until July 22 to have their ballots into Elections B.C.
The packages are continuing to be produced so there will be no delay getting packages to registered voters once Canada Post resumes services, said Craig James, B.C.'s acting chief electoral officer. "Canada Post has assured Elections B.C. that the voting packages in the mail system presently will be securely stored until postal service resumes," James said in a prepared statement.
He said Elections B.C. was meeting with Canada Post officials Wednesday to discuss ways to mitigate disruption in postal service.
Elections B.C. noted that voters who have received their HST referendum package can deliver a completed ballot to any of the 60 Service B.C. Centres in the province. In Prince George, the centre is located at 1044 Fifth Avenue and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There are also service centres located throughout north-central B.C., including in Quesnel, Valemount, Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Fort St. James and Mackenzie.
Locations of the service centres can be found at www.servicebc.gov.bc.ca/locations.
