TORONTO - Ontario's Progressive Conservatives have made good on a promise to propose changes to the legislation to create a harmonized sales tax, coming up with a half-million amendments.
Opposition finance critic Norm Miller used a forklift to deliver copies of some of the 500,000 amendments the Tories are proposing to the bill to create a 13 per cent sales tax next summer.
The sure-to-be-defeated amendments would exempt by name every municipality, every hockey team, every gym and virtually every good or service in the province from the HST.
It's the latest tactic by the Progressive Conservatives to try to derail the legislation, which they say amounts to "a greedy tax grab" by the Liberal government.
Earlier this week, the Tories staged a two-member occupation of the legislature for about 44 hours to try to force public hearings on the HST bill.
They've also been setting off the division bells as frequently as possible to delay proceedings, and several opposition members have been ejected for calling Premier Dalton McGuinty a liar.
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan says the "antics and inconsistencies" from the Opposition won't halt the tax package that also includes cuts to personal and corporate taxes.
The New Democrats also oppose the HST, and note they are the only party that is consistent in its position on the tax both provincially and nationally.
