No, Mr. Speaker. The fact is that our proposal does exactly what we said in the red book. What the member has just called for, which is harmonization, is in fact what the member's party called for in the finance committee.
It is important to understand that the $3 billion the hon. member refers to, as far as the federal government is concerned, whatever would occur would be revenue neutral. If there would be a gain on one segment of the taxpaying public in Ontario, the Government of Ontario would certainly have the opportunity to use that funding either to reduce taxes or in fact to increase social services in the province of Ontario. It would have complete flexibility.
Therefore it is simply not true to say there would be a shift from one level of taxpayer to another. In fact, it would give the government the scope for far more fairness in Ontario, as was the conclusion of the Ontario fair tax commission over a year ago.
What we are looking at is a profound structural change in the tax system which would do a great deal of good for small business and the consumers of Ontario.
In terms of the opening statement of the hon. member, his reference to hell freezing over, that may be the case. It may well be that the hon. member and other governments have a better knowledge of that place than I have.