Mr. Speaker, in venue after venue in the 1993 election the Liberal candidates across the country told the Canadian voters that they would scrap, kill, abolish the GST. That is the fact.
Taxpayers across this country are going to remember because we are going to keep reminding them that they are going to pay for this Liberal promise, this yet another Liberal broken promise. They are going to pay for this harmonization scam of the Liberals that will hurt every Canadian taxpayer because to get the Atlantic Canada provinces, the ones that agreed to harmonization, the Liberals will give the Atlantic Canada provinces a cash payment to induce them to come on to this scheme.
This payment to Atlantic Canada provinces, the ones that have joined on, that have been duped into it by the Liberal Party, is going to amount to about $1 billion a year just to satisfy the whims of this Liberal government to make it look not quite so bad. They can once again try to fool the Canadian people but they will not get away with it.
Taxpayers in every other region of Canada will be offering tax relief to Canadians in just a few provinces, the provinces that have been coerced into joining this GST harmonization plan.
Canadians in certain regions of the country I do not think should be asked to subsidize a tax cut for maritime provinces that came in on this plan because of this Liberal harmonization scam. But the Liberals are using $1 billion from taxpayers to buy a buried GST in Atlantic Canada so that they can say they kept their election promise. That simply is not going to sell to the Canadian people. This is truly despicable and Canadians will not be hoodwinked by this Liberal trickery, this Liberal sleight of hand.
Atlantic Canadians will also suffer because while they may pay a lower tax rate in this harmonization scam, they will pay taxes on a larger range of goods and services. You do not get something for nothing, particularly when a Liberal government is running the country. If people think they are actually getting something from this government, they should keep their hands on their wallets and watch their back pockets. The government will not give you what it has not first taken away from you.
The harmonized tax will apply to children clothing-wonderful-books, hair cuts, funeral services, heating oil, home renovations, gasoline and new homes. New home prices will rise by about 5.5 per cent and municipalities will be forced to raise their property taxes.
It will cause an increase in gas taxes that will cost Atlantic Canadians as much as $100 million a year. It will cost them more to heat their homes and funerals will cost more. The Liberals have even managed to make dying more expensive. When will the Liberals begin taxing births? That way they could get you coming and going. We should talk to the Minister of Finance and the revenue minister about this.
In all, this harmonization package is a bad deal for Atlantic Canadians and the maritime provinces generally. It is a bad deal for Canadians. Let us see what some of the other provinces said about this Liberal harmonization package which the Liberals are peddling as this huge great deal.
Ontario said that the plan would cost its consumers between $2 billion and $3 billion extra a year if the harmonized tax were implemented in Ontario. Ontario's premier said that giving the subsidization package to the maritimes represented nothing more than a bribe. That was his word, not mine.
Alberta's premier, who also runs a good fiscally responsible province, said that the compensation component was a bribe put forward to get the Liberal premiers in Atlantic Canada to sign on to the deal.
It will surprise the Liberals that Saskatchewan's minister of finance said that the plan would mean a massive tax shift on to the province's consumers. Who said NDP finance ministers do not know what is going on? Congratulations to Saskatchewan's finance minister.
Manitoba also said that the cost to consumers would be too high and that it would not sign on to it.
This deal will not only hurt consumers, it will hurt business in Atlantic Canada. Three major retailers have said that their net annual retail deficit will total $27 million once this plan is implemented. The Retail Council of Canada knows what it is talking about. It stated that the harmonized tax will cost retailers $100 million a year.
We are talking about a massive extra consumer tax. We are talking about deception. I urge Liberal members who have integrity to stand up in this House, stand behind their campaign promises and say no to this deception.