TORONTO - Two maverick Progressive Conservatives who staged a sit-in at the Ontario legislature to protest the lack of wider public hearings on tax harmonization have given up after less than two days.

The Opposition is claiming victory, but it's looking more like a defeat.

The Tories, who insisted they would hold out for broader public hearings on the controversial tax change, didn't get what they said they wanted. They also passed up the chance for a second day of public hearings in Toronto in order to prolong their protest.

And with two members of the shadow cabinet banished for the remainder of the session, the 25-member Opposition also has two less votes in the legislature, which may last until after the next election in 2011.

But in a surprising turn of events, Speaker Steve Peters ruled that Thursday's scheduled public hearing on the government bill that will merge the eight per cent provincial sales tax with the federal GST could start as soon as midnight tonight.

The New Democrats, who have also called for wider public hearings on the HST, say it may be the only way to get more input when the government is only allowing one day of hearings before a legislative committee.

"We used every tool that we could to try to pressure the government into doing the right thing," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

The governing Liberals are trying to negotiate a solution where the hours could be extended rather than moved to the middle of the night, said government house leader Monique Smith.

One of the options on the table is to hold the hearings from 8 a.m. until 9:30 p.m., according to government sources.

The latest opposition assault on the HST came within hours of the Tory climbdown.

Bill Murdoch and Randy Hillier, who emerged from the main chamber to a throng of cameras and reporters, admit they can't force the Liberal government to hold public hearings on the merging of the provincial sales tax with the GST next July.

But the two insist their protest wasn't in vain because they helped people realize the provincial Conservatives oppose the HST.

"Taxpayers in this province knows that there's a party that stands up for them and that will fight for them and won't back down," said Hillier, who represents a rural eastern Ontario riding and serves as Tory labour critic.

"This Liberal government has no regard for people and taxpayers. They obviously would not have any public hearings anywhere in this province."

The decision to stand down appears to have come just a few hours after Opposition house leader Bob Runciman insisted the Tory caucus was firmly behind the suspended pair.

Peters, who suspended the two for misbehaving in the legislature, said he was approached Tuesday afternoon by the veteran Conservative.

"Mr. Runciman assured me that the members would be leaving and I thank the honourable member for following through on that commitment," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Opposition Leader Tim Hudak admitted the protest was approved by the Conservative caucus to try to force the Liberals into allowing public hearings across the province on the new tax.

However, the New Democrats say the Tories' real goal was to distract voters from the fact that they once supported harmonization.

"It accomplished nothing," said NDP house leader Gilles Bisson.

"In fact, we had brokered a deal a day and a half ago that there would be additional hearings here at Queen's Park in order to give the public a little bit of extra time to be able to have their say. Effectively what they managed to do was even scuttle that."

Premier Dalton McGuinty, who refused to intervene in the protest, said the government has already had a "good and extended conversation" on the HST, which was announced in the budget last March.

"I think that our responsibility here in government is to keep our eye on the ball," he said.

The notorious Tory pair, who started their protest Monday afternoon, spent two nights sleeping in an adjoining lobby that afforded such small comforts as couches and a bathroom.

For two days, they led a deafening, desk-pounding protest in the legislature in an all-out effort to derail tax harmonization.

Peters took the unusual step of scuttling question period Tuesday over the ear-splitting din of the Tories, who led their caucus colleagues in an unrelenting campaign to drown out debate by shouting and slamming the lids of their wooden desks.