Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member opposite for his comments. Unfortunately, one gets used to a lot of the rhetoric coming from the other side, so the hon. member's candour and honesty is very refreshing.
He endorses harmonization. I would not expect otherwise, in the light of the Reform Party's position after the GST review. He endorses tax included pricing. He is widely recognized as a prominent economist. I would be surprised if he said otherwise. He accepts, in all fairness, that there will be one time costs, but in the light of ongoing savings they may well be offset in the long run. All of that is refreshing and welcome. I would be surprised if the hon. member had said otherwise. He also has some doubts and some concerns. That is also fair.
I want to make one observation and ask him one quick question. The observation is on tax included pricing. Is he aware of the accommodations that the government has made in consultation with businesses in responding to the very concerns he raised about implementing a harmonized system in one region and not others? For instance, accommodations are being made which will allow catalogue publishers and retailers that produce catalogues to overcome the concerns they have. They need not print the prices in the harmonized provinces, as long as they indicate in the catalogue that their prices do not include taxes.
Is he aware that discussions are ongoing and regulations will reflect that the government and retailers have agreed to allow bin pricing for those items that are labelled, which would otherwise have to be relabelled individually? That would be a tremendous imposition on business so the government has accepted the principle of allowing small items that are prelabelled to be placed in bins, with the prices indicated on the bin. In modern retailing that is often the way things are done. We only have to think of our neighbourhood stores.
Is he also aware that the opportunity still exists for retailers to indicate sale prices that are exclusive of taxes as long as the tax included price is also indicated?
Is he aware that there are ongoing discussions toward improving the system more as regulations are drafted? He may not have been aware of those things. I am sure he will welcome all of those comments.
The question is to him as an economist, because he stood and spoke as an economist and less so as a politician. We welcome that in debates on critical issues such as this.
He did not speak, at least not at length, about the inefficiencies in provincial sales taxes, particularly where hidden taxes are concerned, which is a cascading of taxes, tax on tax. The ultimate consumer pays for all those hidden taxes.
I wonder if he would comment on whether a harmonized system where input credits are available now, not just for those taxes paid under the GST system, but for the component of provincial taxes would also be available, is a much more efficient system. I ask him what a rational retailer business person would do in light of those savings.