Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not get it. The HST is unfair and it is an 8% increase that is too expensive.
The same is true for the EI premium increase, yet he is planning to increase EI premiums by $15 billion, which will mean employers will have to pay $884 more per year per employee, and workers will have to pay an extra $632 per year. He does not want to call it a tax increase, but that is what it is.
Economist Dale Orr says, “If it quacks like a duck, it's a duck”.
Why is the Prime Minister intent on discouraging employers from hiring Canadians in a recession by talking about raising a payroll tax?