Madam Speaker, I listened with great interest to my friend and colleague. He is an eloquent speaker, but as is all too often the case, only part of the picture is presented and is not one we on this side of the House agree with.
The member questions the finance minister and the government's making an arrangement with the three Atlantic provinces because they saw it was fit, fair and just to provide a degree of compensation to assist with the transition. This is especially the case because of the lowered provincial rate portion of the harmonized tax.
I am a member of the House of Commons finance committee, as is my colleague. I went through the extensive consultations in the spring of 1994 which covered a wide range of witnesses across the country and a wide range of issues. We looked at about 20 options for replacing the GST. There was no doubt the best replacement for the GST was a harmonized system involving provincial taxes and the federal GST.
We had the concurrence of the Reform Party on this suggestion.