British Columbia voters could see a first draft of the referendum question on the harmonized sales tax by mid-November, says Attorney General Mike de Jong.
The province's chief electoral officer is currently drafting the final version of the question, which could be made public by Nov. 15, de Jong said Tuesday.
The question will be up for debate in the spring session of the legislature but the chief electoral officer will have the final say on the wording.
"I'll get a question in a few weeks," de Jong said Tuesday, the same day the government announced the creation of an office to inform the public about the HST.
"The centre has been created to help British Columbians access information about the HST so that they can have a meaningful dialogue and debate in the leadup to the 2011 referendum," said a statement from the Finance Ministry.
Tom Syer, a former director of First Nations and corporate relations at a B.C. renewable energy company, will lead the office.
In Monday's cabinet shuffle, Campbell also appointed former solicitor general John Les as parliamentary secretary for HST information.
An all-party legislative committee voted unanimously last month to put the tax to a provincewide referendum next September after more than 500,000 British Columbians signed a petition to repeal the tax.
Premier Gordon Campbell said the government will drop the HST if there's a majority vote to get rid of it.
HST opponents whose petition forced the referendum said they've added Social Development Minister Kevin Krueger to a list of 19 Liberals being targeted for recall over the tax.
