Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for an excellent speech and for his insight into the situation before us.
This is all about supporting corporations and Bay Street which are basically in control of the Conservative government and the Liberals, the so-called official opposition. The HST is going to shift taxes away from the big corporations and onto everyday families. The average family of four is going to be stuck with paying an extra $1,500 every year.
The federal finance minister has been pressuring the provinces in the last four federal budgets to sign on to this. He has given them a $4.3 billion incentive--some would say it is a bribe, but I will call it an incentive--to sign on for this new tax hike. We are going to have new taxes on coffee, donuts, newspapers, funerals, hydro, home heating, and on and on.
The NDP has moved an amendment proposing that there be no rush to judgment here. We have the time. We should treat the bill the way we do all other bills and have public hearings. We should send the finance committee to hear from the Canadian public with a report back to—