The introduction of the HST reached the next stage with the government introducing implementation legislation but the rhetoric remaining the same.

"Why is the premier hitting Ontario families with a new tax that makes life more expensive while handing out billions and billions of dollars in tax cuts to profitable corporations," asked NDP Leader Andrea Horwath in question period on Monday.

In the latest economic update, the province is projecting a $24.7-billion deficit for 2009-10, in part because corporate tax revenues are down $6 billion.

"That party's locked in the past," shot back Finance Minister Dwight Duncan. "This is about jobs, this is about growth."

"I think it's important to keep in mind under our package of tax reforms, 93 per cent of Ontarians will get a permanent tax cut," replied Premier Dalton McGuinty.

He said the tax cuts will start Jan. 1. "The average family with an $80,000 per year income will see an average tax cut of 10 per cent," McGuinty said.

It will lower costs for businesses and allow them to both lower prices and hire more people, he said.

Duncan said the changes to will result in $15 billion in tax cuts over three years for Ontario families and business.

However, the current eight per cent Retail Sales Tax will now largely apply to the same range of goods and services as the five per cent GST when the harmonization takes place next July 1, meaning some goods and services that weren't previously taxed now will be.

On Thursday, the province promised to not apply the expanded tax to food purchases under $4 in value or to newspaper purchases. Duncan made the announcement at a Tim Hortons in west Toronto. The cost of the measure is estimated to be $325 million annually in foregone revenue.

McGuinty said Friday in Ottawa that there will be no more exemptions.

The government has also tried to sell the job-creation benefits of the tax, citing a study by prominent academic Jack Mintz as saying the total package will increase Ontario's economic competitiveness.

The province has claimed its policies will lead to the creation of 591,000 jobs.

The very conservative National Citizen's Coalition has estimated the HST will cost an average taxpayer $800 to $1,000 annually.

"This is the biggest sales tax grab in the history of this province," Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said Monday.

"It will mean that Ontario working families and retirees will pay more for gas for their car, heat for their home and everyday goods and services like getting a haircut or taking their dog to the vet."

But when the move was unveiled in March, his party said it supported the "principle" of harmonization. However, it did disagree with the timing.

"Now is precisely the right time to modernize the tax system so that when the effects of this global recession end, Ontario's economy is more competitive and better able to create jobs," Duncan said.

The federal Conservative government gave Ontario $4.3 billion to aid the transition. That money will go towards a series of cash rebate payments towards Ontario families, the last of which will come on July 1, 2011.

The next provincial election comes in the fall of 2011.

There is support in the business community for the change, but the NCC and the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, another conservative group, vow to fight the move.

Both the NDP and the Tories said they want the McGuinty government to hold public hearings.

"If he rams it through the legislature, this is nothing less than a slippery and gutless attempt to deny a voice to the seniors, middle class families and small businesses who have the most to lose from this $3 billion tax grab," said Hudak.

"We think the government needs to hear from real people," said Horwath.

"The premier is asking Ontarians to pay more for daily essentials -- home heating, hydro, gas for the car -- and at the same time he's telling them to brace for closed emergency rooms and funding cuts."

With a report from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press