Ontario Hansard - 01-December2009

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I appreciate the opportunity today to talk about the need for public hearings into the HST bill, or Bill 218, as we refer to it here in this chamber.

As you know, the Liberals have used every loophole they could possibly find to ram this legislation through the Ontario Legislature, and they're going to continue to do that at committee.

I have one piece of correspondence of thousands that have come into my office that I want to read into the record to signify the discontent among Ontarians with this tactic. This comes from the Barrhaven BIA chair, Ken Ross:

"It is certainly a common view that the public in general are very `unaware' of the implications of this harmonized tax `HST.'

"It is really quite disturbing to those in attendance as to the way and haste this tax is being pushed through.

"It is also not realistic to coordinate those who are most affected to come to Queen's Park this Thursday to speak on this issue. `Does Dalton realize that it is less than three weeks to Christmas ... the time of year that either makes or breaks it for most businesses!'"

I need to say that I agree with Mr. Ross, and that is why I and my colleague in the NDP have called for the committee hearings on Thursday morning to start at one minute after 12. We expect the Liberals to support us. We want to sit round the clock, and we'll do just that.