Thompson riding signed the anti-HST petition than voted for Lake. Lake caused controversy in May 2010 when he misspoke saying that the Committee on Legislative Initiatives had the power to refuse the petition based on unclear wording and in August when he refused to accept the petition as delivered by the proponents (Lake would only accept it from the Chief Electoral Officer who was holding it pending the resolution of a court challenge by pro-HST consortium). The petition was forwarded to the committee in September and the committee met twice to decide whether to forward the petition to the legislative assembly or call a provincial referendum on the question. At the same time as the HST petition was circulating, the Fight HST group was soliciting input on whether to launch a recall campaign against Lake. In June 2010, Lake was included on their list of potential recall candidates which also included 23 other BC Liberal MLAs. Lake aggressively responded to the recall challenge by calling its organizer a "bully" and "petulant child" and issuing news releases quoting derogatory comments made by others involved in the Fight HST group. The recall campaign occurred in February–March 2011; the group had 60 days to collect signatures of 40% of the 38,246 voters but were only able to collect 26% (10,087 signatures). Afterwards, the Chief Electoral Officer offered his suggestions for reform of the recall legislation, to which Lake emphasized the ability of organizers to destroy petitions should be amended as he was unable to verify the number of signatures claimed by the organizers. Even though Elections BC does not verify failed Recall Petitions. Lake was a member of the Special Committee to Appoint a Chief Electoral Officer, which met in May 2011, but upon advice from the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, Lake withdrew due to his involvement with the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives, the referendum, and the recall campaign. Sled Dog Task Force Premier Campbell's October 2010 cabinet shuffle created for Lake the role of Parliamentary Secretary for Health Promotion as his old position as Parliamentary Secretary for the Ranching Task Force was eliminated. Following the revelation of the Whistler sled dog cull, Campbell appointed Lake to head the Sled Dog Task Force, consisting of two other people (representative from the Union of BC Municipalities and the BC SPCA) to review the provincial government's role in the dog sledding industry and