Obviously this is a critical issue for our industry. When the GST was imposed back in 1991, our sales declined by 10.6%. It was a recessionary period at that time. In contrast, the GDP declined by 2%. We were identified in an Ernst & Young study as being in a unique position, because consumers had the option of purchasing the same or similar products tax-free from grocery stores. In our opinion, the GST is a flawed tax. By extending it to the province of B.C., where there's no tax on restaurant meals, history is going to repeat itself and we're going to suffer the same declines in customer sales and employment.
There's no policy decision that has had a more severe impact on our industry than the imposition of the GST, so we are extremely concerned about the impact this will have in British Columbia. We absolutely need to have more study and we need the federal and provincial governments to come together and work out solutions.