Well, I don't know if this committee wants to weigh into the B.C. HST political debacle, but our industry is supportive of the HST. I have a few points that are certainly worth noting in response to your comments.
The HST was brought in, but the PST was removed, so it's not on all consumer products that consumers are facing an increase. Secondly, when this was brought in, the provincial government also brought in a number of other measures to ensure that low- and medium-income families are net better off with the HST, because there are HST tax credits to go with that. So really, the ones who will be feeling the impact of higher consumer prices are those who are middle-income and higher. Lastly, this is an economic tax policy that we are seeing implemented around the world. In countries like Germany, it's at 25%. We're looking at 12% here.
Over the long term, studies have shown--like in Atlantic Canada--that the impacts on consumer prices are negligible, because removing the inputs into the tax system that curb productivity and prevent industry from actually making the capital investments necessary to expand their businesses has a long-term positive effect on prices. So the full impact on the consumer turns out to be negative.