Michael Ignatieff supports the HST but says he sympathizes with B.C. residents angry over the tax. (CBC)

Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says the B.C. government is paying a heavy political price for the HST partly because of the way it introduced the harmonized sales tax.

Ignatieff told reporters in Kamloops, B.C., Tuesday that he supports the tax because of its economic benefits, but he said B.C. residents have a right to protest the way it was implemented.

If the government has any sense, it will listen to British Columbians who are angry over the tax, Ignatieff said during a stop on a cross-Canada tour.

The HST was announced in B.C. in 2009, just weeks after the ruling Liberals were re-elected after an election campaign during which they made no mention of introducing the tax.

Premier Gordon Campbell said later that the HST was not even considered by the government until after the campaign.

Ignatieff said he would wait to see how a B.C. legislature committee deals with an anti-HST petition signed by 557,000 British Columbians.

The all-party committee — dominated by the ruling B.C. Liberals — will meet in the next month to decide if the petition should be put to a vote in the legislature or whether an anti-HST referendum should be held in September 2011.