Madam Speaker, I would be delighted to respond to the question about why we are opposed to this motion, why I am talking about the substance of the bill. The reason I am talking about the substance of the proposed HST legislation is that none of us in this House will have ample time to do it when the bill actually hits the House. That is the entire point of this motion.
I am sorry, but I do not need any lectures from that member about positions on taxes. Let me read to him a quote from the Prime Minister:
We need another way. This harmonization of the GST, this tax collusion between provincial and federal Liberal governments, is not the way to reverse the economic decline of this country.
That was said by the now Prime Minister on December 10, 1996. In case members think it was only the Prime Minister, this is what the minister of aboriginal affairs said:
The proof is in the pudding. This harmonized sales tax is going to hurt Atlantic Canada.
In the new Liberal-Conservative coalition that we now have to raise taxes on hard-working families and seniors, let me also tell the House what the member for Vancouver South, a Liberal member, said:
It is absolutely horrendous and criminal on the part of the Conservative government to be pushing this policy in a time of deep economic recession.
Yet the Liberals are joining with the Conservatives to hurt families and communities such as my riding of Hamilton Mountain.