Mr. Speaker, this is not an argument about semantics or interpretation, it is a matter of credibility.
On October 18, 1993 the Deputy Prime Minister publicly promised to resign if the GST was not abolished. That cannot be denied. Over two years later it is quite obvious that the government has no intention of getting rid of either the GST or the Deputy Prime Minister. It is stuck with both of those millstones around its neck.
Why did the government ever make a promise, especially on the vital subject of taxation, that it had neither the will nor the political courage to keep?