Dear editor,Having received my HST Referendum Voting Package, I took notice that the 'non-partisan' Elections BC felt it necessary to warn me that: 'it is an offence under the Election Act and HST Referendum Regulation to, among other things, 'make a false or misleading declaration' and 'persuade or compel someone to vote, how to vote, or prevent others from voting.'They then add the penalties associated with such 'crimes.'While I appreciate the warning, perhaps some definitions would have been beneficial to prevent inadvertently breaching these regulations.It appears to me that the current Liberal government, the coalition against the HST, and possibly even your editor (if one is to judge by his editorial) have engaged in disseminating somewhat biased, and one-sided information with regard to this issue.It's obvious that 'declarations' abound here, and many of them could be misleading. Of course we know that the government would never mislead us, don't we? Everything they do is for our good, isn't it?But isn't the very act of trying to sell an idea to the masses 'persuasion?' And isn't this selling, if done dishonestly, actually 'making a false declaration?'The warning in my voting package is absurd yet disturbing because in a so-called democratic arena, people are constantly persuading. That's the whole reason for debate in the legislature isn't it?Why did Elections BC feel the need to include the warning? Was it to silence robust dialogue on the subject while we continue to see propaganda on TV? I guess we'll ultimately find out when it's all over and we see who goes to prison — or England.Fred W. Rae Jr.,Comox