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WHISTLER, B.C.:  Premier Gordon Campbell is asking British Columbians to think like a finance minister when they vote on the harmonized sales tax next fall, focusing on whether the HST is good policy, even if it hasn't been good politics.

The popularity of Campbell's Liberal government has suffered immensely since the HST was announced last year, and he and his finance minister have started the pitch they'll be making for the next year as they try to salvage the tax.

Campbell says voters have the opportunity to affect a major government policy _ and they should take it seriously.

``For one day in 2011, every eligible voter in British Columbian gets to be the minister of finance,'' Campbell said in a speech to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities conference in Whistler on Friday.

``As minister of finance, you know this is a very serious matter. This decision has consequences, regardless of which way we go. It has consequences on people, on their jobs, it has consequences on their community.

``But it is your call.''

The referendum follows a successful provincewide petition campaign that collected more than half-a-million valid signatures.

Campbell has said he'll do away with the HST if more than 50 per cent of the ballots cast are against the tax. However that threshold would not be legally binding on government.

The public anger has been fuelled both by the increased cost of a number of purchases as well as the way the tax was announced last year, just weeks after an election campaign in which the Liberals said they weren't contemplating such a switch.

Campbell again took responsibility for what has been a disastrous failure to convince voters the HST is in the province's best interests, comparing himself and Finance Minister Colin Hansen to Olympic figure skaters.

``We probably would have been wise to skate around a little bit to get the crowd into the program before we launched it,'' he said in between chuckles from the audience.

``We got out there and we stared skating and we threw the HST up in the air, and we promptly fell on our faces. ... Some were saying that the only thing we really mastered was the death spiral.''

But he insisted the tax is the best policy to foster economic growth and create jobs.

He also asked voters to consider the more than one million people receiving senior and low-income rebates associated with the HST. If the province reverts back to the old system, those rebates will disappear, he said.

Mike Farnworth of the Opposition New Democrats, who was in Whistler to hear Campbell speak, said the premier is forgetting that British Columbians have already seen the tax in action _and they don't like it.

``People aren't stupid, they take their family out for dinner and the look at the cheque, and they see the impact the HST has had on them,'' Farnworth told reporters, repeating his party's demand that the referendum be held sooner.

``People are going to make up their mind, but people have been also saying, 'Why are we waiting until September of next year?' There's no reason why that referendum date can't be moved up.''

Campbell often uses his annual speech to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities to make surprise announcements about government policy or funding.

Two years ago, he used the venue to announce the end of tolls on the Coquihalla Highway In 2007, he promised new legislation and policies to tackle climate-change.

But this year's speech was largely a collection of vague mission statements about transforming the province's economy for the 21st century, with a few small announcements thrown in between.

He pledged to speed up nearly a dozen transportation projects, including highway improvements and expanded rapid transit in a number of communities.

The premier said the province will mark the 100th anniversary of B.C.'s park system next year through expanded interpretive programs, and will improve the trails along the Fraser River.

Three committees that deal with the province's pine beetle infestation will receive more funding, charities and volunteer organizations will have access to a database to conduct criminal record checks for free.

And the province will commission three totem poles that will be set up on the lawn of the legislature in Victoria, paying tribute to the athletes, volunteers, governments and First Nations that contributed to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler.