Jim Flaherty, March 30. Last week, Ontario’s Liberal government, after objecting to the combined tax for years, decided to switch. Ottawa agreed to help Canada’s most populous province with that move by giving Ontario one-time compensation of $4.3 billion. ”I think this is very good economic policy,” Flaherty told reporters in Ottawa Monday. “This is a massive tax cut, a $5 billion tax cut for businesses in the province of Ontario and that means job creation and investment in the province of Ontario. So, this is very good economic policy over time.”
Toronto Star, today. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and fellow Conservatives are distancing themselves from the harmonized sales tax as public angst grows over the price hikes it will mean on everything from fast food to funerals … federal Conservative sources have told the Star that earlier in the summer, officials in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office ordered Flaherty to tone it down. “They asked Jim to stop talking about (the tax) so much because it’s not helpful,” said one insider.