Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
Last week the vice-president of the Retail Council of Canada met with me along with representatives of major Canadian retailers such as Sears, Eaton's, Canadian Tire, Shoppers, and so on. They informed me that the new HST in the maritime provinces was going to cost them in excess of $100 million and that they, the retailers, and us, the consumers back home, would have to absorb that.
Is the minister aware that those retailers are now talking about closing out their operations in the maritimes and that thousands of jobs in the three maritime provinces could be lost because of the HST?