Mrs. Carol Mitchell: My question is for the Minister of Revenue. Minister, recent news very much reflects the behaviour of the official opposition. Yesterday's Belleville Intelligencer ran an article entitled "Hudak Not Our HST Saviour." The article states-
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I'm just going to remind the member of a ruling that I made previously on a couple of statements: Whether you're making allegations either directly or indirectly against a member or a group of members, I just ask that you be cautious in the phrasing of your question.
Mrs. Carol Mitchell: Yes. My apologies, Speaker.
The Leader of the Opposition "in the next provincial election, just because he is flapping his gums about how horrible the HST"-
Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I ask the honourable member to withdraw that comment.
Mrs. Carol Mitchell: I withdraw the comment.
Ontarians need to know that their leaders take this debate seriously-
Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I just ask the honourable member from Renfrew to withdraw his comment.
Mr. John Yakabuski: Withdrawn.
Mrs. Carol Mitchell: The federal Conservatives encouraged Ontario to harmonize tax through a commitment of $4.3 billion. What will the $4.3 billion mean for Ontarians?
Hon. John Wilkinson: Out of respect to the Chair, I do want to remind the people of Ontario that they can go onto the Internet to yesterday's Belleville Intelligencer and they'll see a quite interesting article about the position of the members opposite.
It's important to remember that we've told people that we would not have proceeded with the harmonization of our sales tax, and our massive tax reform and cuts, if it had not been for the historic decision made by Prime Minister Harper and Minister Flaherty to transfer some $4.3 billion to the province of Ontario so that we can take that money in the first year, that year of transition, and put it right into the pockets of consumers. That really had been the historic logjam. That is the reason that the province of Ontario had not been able to move forward. But because we were able to reach that decision, set aside partisan differences and understand what is important-to create 600,000 more jobs in Ontario, $47 billion-
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Supplementary?
Mrs. Carol Mitchell: Yesterday's National Post stated that "Small businesses ... should generally benefit from the change from a two-tax system," and yesterday's Windsor Star and Ottawa Citizen stated that the "harmonized sales tax set to be introduced by the McGuinty government next June could rapidly improve the province's economic standing."
The HST has the support of groups ranging from leaders in business such as Telus and Bell Canada and is also supported by poverty advocates such as the Daily Bread Food Bank because it will benefit low-income earners and create jobs.
This is a very serious issue dealing with the economic future of Ontario. Minister, whom should Ontarians believe: those who are operating on the ground or those who treat this debate as a joke?
Hon. John Wilkinson: I would give an example: Just recently, GE Canada decided to make an investment of some $100 million in the great city of Peterborough. The CEO of GE Canada, Elyse Allan, said that because of the improvement in the business climate right here in Ontario-because of the actions we are taking-her company, which could have invested anywhere in the world, decided to make their largest reinvestment, I think, in the history of their company in Peterborough. That means jobs; jobs to the people in Peterborough. That's exactly why we are doing this.
It is important for people to understand that under our tax reform package, because of the harmonization of our sales tax, we are permanently cutting income taxes for people and for business. For every dollar that we save for businesses, there are $2 of tax cuts for people, and it's going to start on January 1. It's going to start on January 1 because those of us on this side of the House are going to vote in favour of that-
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