HST: "There are always rats in these debates," Duncan said

"There are always rats in these debates," Duncan said, without naming any individuals.

Well, I can think of two rats right off the top of my head......Harper and McGuinty along with Jim Flaherty and Dwight Duncan himself, for hoisting this HST on an grossly overtaxed and unsuspecting public.

But “debate”? What debate is Dwight Duncan talking about?

There was no debate whatsoever.

More like divine intervention by Ed Clark, CEO of TD Bank and the rest of his cheering section from the corporate sector who want to tax Ontarians’ heating bills and create a huge underground economy to rival illegal cigarettes, so they can enjoy windfall profits for doing absolutely squat, and with no commitment to increase investment or create new jobs, which is the illusory promise of this HST tax from Hell.....err Harper.

Ed Clark’s HST will simply be to Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberals what Ed Clark’s NEP was to Pierre Trudeau and the Alberta Liberals.

PS: Are there any Alberta Liberals post the NEP of 1981? Will there be any Ontario Liberals post the actual implementation and point-of-purchase sticker shock of 2010? I doubt it, unless the party is comprised of masochists.


Fed Tories pushed for HST: Duncan

By JONATHAN JENKINS AND ANTONELLA ARTUSO , QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
Sun Media
19th November 2009

The federal Tories pushed, prodded and ultimately paid Ontario to adopt the harmonized sales tax and any effort to disown those actions smells like a rodent, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said yesterday.

"There are always rats in these debates," Duncan said, without naming any individuals.

"It's always funny to watch those individuals who are trying to deny the $4.3 billion their government is giving us. It's fun to watch."

Owen Sound-Bruce-Grey MP Larry Miller raised the ire of his provincial seatmate and fellow Tory Bill Murdoch earlier this year for disavowing his government's role in the tax and Sarnia's Pat Davidson has been quoted as encouraging seniors to fight against the HST as well.

But Duncan said Ontario would not and could not merge its retail sales tax with the federal GST for a 13% HST without plenty of encouragement and $4.3 billion of federal money. "The feds certainly pushed us," Duncan said, adding any doubt about where the federal Conservatives stand on the HST should be erased when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty introduces enabling legislation sometime before next March. "I look forward to the debate in the federal house and I look forward to Mr. Flaherty restating what he has stated publicly on a number of occasions, as well as the prime minister."

VOW TO DELAY

The provincial Progressive Conservatives have fought hard against the HST and are vowing to delay it but haven't committed to scrapping it should they get elected. Premier Dalton McGuinty said he suspects that deep down inside, the opposition supports the HST. "I think they don't have any ideas of their own in terms of what we need to do to create 600,000 more jobs, for example," McGuinty told reporters. "I think, honestly, they believe that although there's some challenges associated with this on a personal level for Ontarians, this is the best thing for us to do together." In jurisdictions where governments have harmonized sales taxes and gone on to electoral defeat, their successors have left the tax regime largely in place. "It's a progressive, modern characteristic of taxation," McGuinty said. "We took a long hard look at this before we got into this and we knew that it would be fraught with political challenges." PC MPP Lisa MacLeod said provincial Tories are deadset against the tax and will do what they can to delay it, even if doing so puts in jeopardy personal and corporate income tax cuts scheduled to begin Jan. 1. "We're going to continue to use every legislative tactic at our disposal to extend this debate," MacLeod said. "Our electorate expects us to fight Mr. McGuinty tooth and nail on this."