To the Editor:

I went to buy my copy of the Advance last Thursday and was surprised to have to pay $1.12. Now, I was well aware that this was the first day of the HST and that some items would cost more. However, the cost of the paper the previous week was $1 including GST, thus making the net cost just a smidge over 95 cents. HST applied to this only makes a cost of $1.06 or $1.07, so why am I paying $1.12?

The pros and cons of the HST are, in my view, at the moment immaterial but one of the arguments against it was that goods would rise in cost, and to increase the cost of our weekly rag on the very day of the HST introduction was either a way of sneaking in a small price rise on the back of HST or, at best, very poor timing.

If the price had to rise due to operating costs, then maybe this should have been mentioned in an earlier edition, I'm sure the people of Creston would understand this, but to raise the price as you did, well, I think the people of Creston deserved better. It's not the amount but the principle involved.

Ray Smith

Creston