The 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler are just around the corner. And, given all the excitement over hosting next February’s global extravaganza, it would be reasonable to expect the locals to be in a party mood.

They’re in a mood all right, but it’s not for partying — thanks to a provincial government that, since its re-election last spring, has hardly been turning in a medal-winning performance.

In fact, if members of Premier Gordon Campbell’s British Columbia Liberal government were tested for honesty as diligently as Olympic athletes are screened for illegal drug use, they’d fail miserably. It’s now widely acknowledged here that the governing Liberals were re-elected under false pretences — on several counts.

During the election campaign, for example, voters were led to believe that B.C.’s deficit would be only $495 million, as outlined in last February’s budget. But post-election revelations showed it to be sharply higher — almost $3 billion.

Nor were a host of post-election spending cuts even hinted at when the Campbell clan was campaigning hard against a show of rising strength from NDP Opposition leader Carole James.

These are not small matters; they include major cuts in health and education spending, plus significant slashing of programs for seniors and funding for community groups and charities.

Another post-election surprise is the unprecedented increase in limits on B.C. government-controlled online gambling, from $120 per week to a whopping $10,000 per week.

But the biggest surprise of all is the harmonized sales tax. Like Ontario, B.C. will harmonize its provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax, effective July 1, 2010. The aim is to boost new business investment, improve productivity, enhance economic growth and create jobs.

Despite the HST’s significance, there was no mention of this massive change in B.C. tax structure during last May’s election. And it’s now generally agreed that, given the size and scope of such an overhaul, the premier and Finance Minister Colin Hansen must have been well along in the planning before the vote.

They, on the contrary, have said they wouldn’t do such a thing. Indeed, Maureen Bader, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, pointed out that B.C. residents are outraged by the government’s failure to announce its plans during the election and that the government’s turnaround on the issue amounts to a “slap in the face” to B.C. voters.

And as Bader and others have noted, while an HST lowers business costs, it does transfer a substantial tax burden onto consumers: that’s because B.C.’s 12% HST will capture many items that are exempt under the province’s 7% provincial sales tax. If the B.C. government had offered a substantial offsetting reduction in personal income taxes, consumers would not be hit as hard by harmonization.

Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that HST protests have come thick and fast. The furor has even brought former premier Bill Vander Zalm out of retirement to lead several protest rallies.

Only recently, for example, a Council of Tourism Associations study found the HST could cost B.C.’s $14-billion tourism sector up to 5,174 jobs and $545 million in lost spending next summer.

Still, it’s unlikely the HST in B.C. will be stopped.

Misrepresenting the Liberal Party’s true intentions last May on such a grand scale may prove to be unforgiveable, and already some B.C. Liberal supporters are looking for a new home with an emerging B.C. Conservative Party. Such a shift could split the right-wing vote in B.C.’s next election, which could clinch an NDP victory.

But some now speculate that Campbell will retire before completing his current term, due to end in 2013. He must know that the chances of his B.C. Liberals winning gold again are diminishing. IE