Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for attending and for visiting us this morning. You bring us some fascinating statistics. I think we all know just how many are employed in the food industry, but these are much higher than I thought.
I have a number of questions. First of all, I carry with me a bill, and I think it understates and leads to my question on why taxes are so detrimental, I think, to the restaurant business.
My wife and I travelled to the States, and we stopped at a nice restaurant, we had a nice meal, and I was so impressed with their beer that I bought one of these two quarts of beer. The bill worked out to be $46.50 and the tax was $2.80. I just about had a heart attack. So I concur with what you say as far as taxes having a detrimental effect go.
Could you explain this, Mr. Reaman? Your chart about the GST is regressive. I don't quite understand about the harmonization. Can you elaborate on that?