Anger over the HST may have fuelled a successful initiative petition, but one political watcher isn't sure there will be enough gas in the tank to force politicians from their seats in the recall process.
And political scientist Dennis Pilon says the Liberals are probably banking on that.
Pilon, of the University of Victoria, says the provincial government's choice not to defend itself on even the most basic accusations from the Fight-HST campaign may indicate the Liberals are aware that MLA recall will falter.
While former premier Bill Vander Zalm has angrily denounced the government for not holding a vote on his initiative on the HST this year, Don Main of Elections BC said doing it in Vander Zalm's time frame simply isn't possible.
"We don't know what type of vote it's going to be, so I'd have to answer 'No' to that question," Main said, when asked if the vote could be moved up to the next few months.
In fact, Main said initiative vote dates are actually predetermined under the Recall and Initiative Act and must be held every three years on the last Saturday in September. The next date falls on Sept. 24, 2011, the day set for the initiative vote on the anti-HST petition.
The Liberal government hasn't pointed out that fact to the media, and other than a quip from Kamloops-area Liberal Terry Lake telling Fight-HST's Chris Delaney to "get stuffed," there's been little reaction from the provincial Liberals on the group's recall effort.
"The Liberals aren't really sure how this is going to play out, so the last thing they want to do is give it more oxygen," said Pilon.
He said it's one thing to ask the public to take a "freebie" shot at the premier over the HST, and the anger over its implementation, but it's another to "unelect" politicians in a province with a polarized vote.
"That's where this cozy coalition of left and right starts to break down and I think the premier and his group are saying: 'You know what? We're going to lay low."'
On Friday, the anti-HST group announced it would be targeting another Liberal MLA.
Saanich North MLA and Labour Minister Murray Coell is the 19th Liberal politician to be threatened with recall over the government's implementation of the HST.
Coell, 56, has spent the last 26 years in politics as a Saanich councillor, mayor and then an MLA.
The man who plans to lead the recall against Coell, Ryan Windsor, personally collected about 1,500 signatures in the petition campaign to repeal the HST.
But he'll need 17,596 signatures to force a recall.
In the 2009 election, 16,101 people voted for Coell's opponents of the almost 44,000 registered voters. Coell scraped through the election with less than 300 votes between himself and the New Democrat candidate.
Windsor is confident he can get the signatures needed.
"People I don't think are angry at general election (time)," he said. "They seem to be angry now, so I'm highly expecting the same results during the HST initiative, which was people flagging me down in the street."
But Pilon believes people will begin to change their minds when they start thinking about the alternative to the politician under recall.
"I think people have to map this HST struggle in the context of party politics in the province," he said. "A considerable number of voters simply will not vote for the other side, no matter what. That's the check on all this stuff."
Windsor won't know if he'll be one of the first to launch his campaign.
In game-show-like fashion, Fight-HST organizers have told those wanting to recall Liberal MLAs that they'll have to generate volunteers, and the ridings with the most volunteers will be among the first to launch campaigns.
"There are a lot of eager people out there," Windsor said. "Right now I have about 20 confirmed volunteers."
Windsor ran for the Green Party in the 2009 election in West Vancouver before he moved to the Saanich riding, but he said he's also campaigned for the Conservatives.
