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Canadian Prime Minister's remarks about HST lead to flurry of calls print this article.
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WAYNE THIBODEAU
The Guardian

The Prime Minister’s Office has apologized for a speech given by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in which he congratulates P.E.I. for looking at harmonizing its provincial sales tax with the GST.
Harper gave the speech Friday during a luncheon of the Economic Club of Toronto.
The problem is P.E.I. called off negotiations two weeks ago, saying it could not reach a deal with Ottawa that was acceptable to the Island government.
It appears nobody told the prime minister that negotiations had ended.
“I’m pleased to see Prince Edward Island looking at harmonizing its sales tax with the GST,’’ Harper said in the speech.
“These moves help the economy in those provinces.’’
The speech left P.E.I. government officials scratching their heads after being contacted by The Guardian for a comment late Friday, after the speech was given.
Erin Mitchell, director of communications for Premier Robert Ghiz, said she was at a loss to explain Harper’s comments.
But late Friday night, the Prince Edward Island government received a telephone call from the Prime Minister’s Office apologizing for the inaccuracy in the speech.
“I can confirm that the province was contacted by a representative of the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) to advise of the remarks that had been made by the PM and to apologize for an inaccuracy therein,’’ said Mitchell.
“The PMO is now aware that negotiations regarding HST have concluded with the province. From the province’s perspective, negotiations regarding HST have concluded and nothing
has changed from the announcement made by the premier and treasurer two weeks ago.’’
The Prime Minister’s Office was left scrambling to come up with an explanation.
Carolyn Stewart Olsen, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office, initially said they had set aside money in the budget to woo Prince Edward Island into joining the harmonized sales tax.
“We have been in talks,” she said. “There is no agreement to date. But we remain hopeful.’’
But Stewart Olsen later sent this statement:
“The PM had been informed we were in discussions with P.E.I.,’’ she said.
“We understand there are no discussions at the present time. There is money in the federal budget available until March 31.’’
While the Prime Minister’s Office was changing its story for The Guardian, it had officials on the phone to the Prince Edward Island government to explain and apologize for Harper’s inaccurate speech.
Neither the federal nor provincial government will say how much money the P.E.I. government walked away from when it ended negotiations with Ottawa over the HST. That money expires on March 31.
Provincial Treasurer Wes Sheridan confirms P.E.I. has not returned to the negotiating table. He said nothing has changed from two weeks ago when he said talks were over and the issue of the HST was dead in P.E.I.
Sheridan too was confused by the prime minister’s comments, until he received an e-mail from a senior official in the premier’s office.
“(I) just got an e-mail from the Intergovernmental Affairs office that they had heard from Ottawa, apologizing for PM’s faux pas.’’

March 11, 2008 | 7:10 AM Comments  0 comments

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