On Thursday, the BC Government announced a new set of provincial rebates under which, schools and hospitals will not be witnessing any hikes in costs which could have come out of the province's move to impose a Harmonized Sales Tax.

As has been confirmed by the Government, the rebate offered would apply to qualifying schools, universities, public colleges and hospital authorities, while stressing that the new plan would "ensure that, on average, these sectors will not pay any more provincial HST after harmonization than they currently pay in PST".

Depending upon the sector in question, the rebates can range from 58% to 87%, and these are in addition to those that were announced for municipalities, charities and qualifying not-for-profit organizations on a previous occasion.

While asserting that the rebate still is not enough, New Democrat finance critic Bruce Ralston said, "The B. C. Liberals are trying to appease British Columbians with one-off rebates. But that's just not going to cut it. The fact remains that the HST is a $1.9 billion tax shift on to consumers. Families and small businesses across the province are going to be hit hard by this new tax, and that's not going to be changed by a few rebates".