After the surprise resignation of Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom on Friday, campaigners say they've seen a dramatic increase in people signing on to the petition against the Harmonized Sales Tax.
When Lekstrom stepped down, he said he was standing up for his constituents, who have been clear about their opposition to the impending new tax.
"That man has got guts. He took a second look at it and said, ‘There's no way. I cant' do it -- it's my conscience,'" John Defayette of the Fight HST campaign told CTV News.
Now business is brisk again on the anti-HST petition line.
"The people are not taking it anymore and they're saying, ‘We've had enough,' and that's why they're signing in droves," Defayette said.
Now that one prominent Liberal has reversed course on the controversial tax, voters are wondering if others will follow suit.
"I think (Lekstrom is) a good man. He's a guy we should be voting for because he's said, ‘I can't take this anymore -- this is beyond the grain of what the purpose of being in government is,'" HST opponent Glenn Brown said.
There's been talk that the swell of anger over the HST will result in recall campaigns against Premier Gordon Campbell or Finance Minister Colin Hansen.
But other Liberal politicians could be in just as much trouble. In seven Liberal ridings, people who have signed the anti-HST petition now far outnumber those who voted for the party.
With more than 600,000 signatures and counting, some voters are encouraging other Liberal's to follow Lekstrom's bold defection.
"Take a lesson from him: Go with your heart and don't make us pay for mistakes that you guys have made," Mike Shaw, an opponent of the HST, told CTV News.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty
