Tories to back NDP anti-HST bill

The Progressive Conservatives are planning to back an NDP private members bill to take the HST off home heating bills when the provincial legislature returns next week.

Opposition leader Tim Hudak says the tories can support the bill, because the party also campaigned on the idea during the election.

“I think the HST on heat and hydro should come off, so this is HST off heat only, we’ll support that. It’s not fully what we’d like to do, but it’s a step in the right direction. PCs will obviously support that.”

NDP leader Andrea Horwath calls it a way to show Ontarians that they’re serious about helping them make ends meet.

“We are heading into the winter, we do need to make sure that people have the capacity to pay their bills – particularly things like home heating.”

This is the first sign of a co-ordinated opposition strategy since the fall election, which left the governing Liberals one seat shy of a majority government. But finance minister Dwight Duncan says the opposition will have to tell him where they’d find the cash to finance the tax cut.

Either way, it’s unlikely the legislation will become law. The governing Liberals control which bills get called for final reading, and they’ve already said they won’t call up this one.

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