Reality Check: Harper Conservatives support makes HST possible: Ontario Premier McGuinty

For months the Harper Conservatives have told Canadians their plans to introduce the harmonized sales tax in Ontario and British Columbia is a “provincial decision.”

Unfortunately for them, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty begs to differ:

In a Question Period response to Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, Premier McGuinty confirmed once again that the Harper’s government’s fingerprints are all over the hated tax plan:

Horwath: “The Ontario Chamber of Commerce reiterated my comments that this is a tax that’s not going to create jobs; in fact, it’s going to reduce the rate of job creation in this province. Ontario has already lost 200,000 jobs this year, and people are struggling right now in this economy. What Ontarians are trying to figure out is why, in the middle of a devastating recession, the Premier signed a secret deal with Stephen Harper that makes life less affordable for people and that experts say will kill up to 40,000 jobs a year? Can he tell them that?”

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: “There’s no doubt that we could not have done this without the support and co-operation of the federal government.” (Hansard, Ontario Legislature, 28 October 2009)