Tory HST protest halts Ontario question period

An unusual protest over tax harmonization prompted the Speaker of the house to forgo daily question period at the Ontario legislature on Tuesday.

Progressive Conservatives Randy Hillier and Bill Murdoch staged an overnight sit-in over the government's refusal to hold provincewide public consultations on merging the provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax (HST).

Their sit-in followed an order by Speaker Steve Peters, who suspended both MPPs from the house for the rest of the legislative session for using unparliamentary language and disrupting debate on Monday.

Conservative caucus colleagues joined Hillier and Murdoch on Tuesday morning and continued to shout and pound their desks. Following a brief meeting to try to resolve the impasse, the Speaker began question period by again asking Hillier and Murdoch to leave.

But the two — clad in the same clothes they wore on Monday — again defied Peters's order, prompting the Speaker to suspend question period for the day.

"I am not prepared to continue with question period while these two members are occupying these front benches," Peters said.

More consultation required, say Tories

The Tories' move comes after Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said the public will be able to comment on the HST after all on Thursday during a five-hour legislative committee hearing in Toronto.

But the Conservatives say one hearing is not enough, and want the government to take the consultations on the road.

"The government has been intransigent. When you sit back and say one day of public hearings [in] the city of Toronto — is that being unreasonable?" said Tory house Leader Bob Runciman.

Liberal house Leader Monique Smith dismissed the Tory tactics.

"Well, aside from being annoying they're not slowing things down terribly, we are continuing to do the business of the day," she said. 

Smith said people outside Toronto who want to speak at Thursday's hearing could do so through a video link.

Return of exiled Tories could be months away

The latest fracas began after Murdoch called Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty a liar on Monday for his refusal to hold the consultations — just as his fellow opposition members, Ted Chudleigh and Peter Shurman, had done on Nov. 19.

Murdoch, who represents Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, refused to withdraw the comment, so Peters ordered him removed from the legislature.

Members of the Conservative caucus then surrounded Murdoch and blocked the sergeant-at-arms, who was attempting to escort Murdoch out of the chamber.

Peters then suspended both Murdoch and Hillier, who was one of those who helped form the human shield around Murdoch, until the end of the session.

That means if they leave the legislature, they won't be able to return until a new session starts with a speech from the throne, which may be months away.

Monday also marked the first of what may be many late-night sittings in the legislature over the HST bill, which the Liberals are determined to pass before the holiday break.

Like the Ontario plan, British Columbia will harmonize its PST with the GST next July 1, something Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador have already done.