In retrospect, the Liberal batting order when it came to debating the harmonized sales tax legislation is significant.
Because through hours of exhaustive debate on the legislation eliminating the provincial sales tax to make way for the HST, then energy minister Blair Lekstrom never opened his mouth once.
He went along with it at the cabinet table last summer when the fateful decision was made. And he stood up -- silently -- for the bill when it finally came to a vote in the legislature.
But he couldn't bring himself to go on the record speaking in favour of it.
He tried supporting it in his hometown newspaper. But every time he went home to his Peace River South riding, he was buttonholed by friends and neighbours who had voted for him, all of them with deep misgivings about how the HST came to be.
He said they were respectful for the most part. But there was no mistaking how seriously they objected to the way the tax was announced as a done deal two months after the last election.
The conflict between the imperative to support his government and the duty to represent his constituents finally got to Lekstrom this week.
He had a showdown of sorts at the Wednesday cabinet meeting. Lekstrom asked his colleagues to take a second look, "put the brakes on" and take six months to a year to consult with people and explain the justification for the tax.
Premier Gordon Campbell said yesterday Lekstrom's views were heard, but dismissed. The Liberal battle plan remains full steam ahead.
It's unlikely the showdown was angry. Lekstrom and Campbell both displayed a fair bit of respect for each other yesterday morning after the quickie divorce was announced.
