Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Saskatchewan's minister of finance has said the plan would need a massive shift on to the province's consumers. Manitoba has also said that the cost to consumers would be too high and they declined to sign on to this harmonization deal.
It is not surprising, but there has not been one call of outrage from the Liberal premiers of the maritime provinces that have signed on to this deal. They are part of the Liberal Party, I suppose, and this is probably status quo, I would assume.
However, the most amazing thing is that the people who contribute most to the economy of the maritimes, the retailers, the manufacturers, the farmers and the consumers, have all said that this is going to be a hurtful tax. Where is the representation from the maritime members of Parliament? Not one word has been heard from the people who were sent to Ottawa to represent the best interests of maritime Canada, because they are not permitted to utter one word in opposition to this harmonized sales tax.
We are talking about the extra costs associated with the closures of five Greenberg stores in the maritimes. This is a loss of 79 jobs. Seventy-nine jobs in the maritimes is big stuff. Greenberg's management says that there is a chance that all their other stores may be closing in other areas of Atlantic Canada as a result of harmonization.
Bill C-70 is just a symptom of a whole bigger picture and that bigger picture is honesty and integrity. As I said at the beginning of my presentation, if politicians would tell the truth the first time, they would never have to say they are sorry. That is something that every Reformer in this House knows. That is something that every Reform candidate who goes out in the next election knows. Members can bet that in contrast to the other candidates from the other parties, every Reform candidate in the next election will know that if they tell the truth first they never have to say they are sorry.