December 1, 2017: Darlene Compton & Wade MacLauchlan (HST & Carbon Tax)

READ THE SHORT ARTICLE FOR CONTEXT – THEN WATCH THE VIDEO

Welcome back to “Great Question – No Answer” – the PEI Legislative Assembly Game Show where the only time you’ll hear a straight answer from a governing Liberal MLA is when a fellow Liberal MLA asks the Question!

Today’s winning MLA-Pairing is Darlene Compton (Honourable Member for Belfast – Murray River) and Wade MacLauchlan (Premier, President of the Executive Council; Minister of Justice and Public Safety; Attorney General; Minister Responsible for Intergovernmental Affairs; Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs; Minister Responsible for Acadian and Francophone Affairs; Minister Responsible for Labour; and Leader of the Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island).

Darlene’s “Great Question” was uncomplicated and direct; it should have been met with a simple “yes” or “no” response: “Mr. Premier: Will the HST be lowered, with the new revenue that a carbon tax will bring?”

The Premier’s “No Answer” response failed to address Darlene’s great question and didn’t even bother to mention the HST.

Extra points were awarded the Premier for the clever way he introduced totally irrelevant material making him sound sincerely concerned for the well-being of poor Islanders – especially his citing the number of Islanders who pay no income tax whatsoever (Why don’t they pay any income tax you might ask?…because they’re living in extreme poverty, which actually makes Darlene’s concern about the poorest Islanders paying a carbon fee or tax on top of an already high HST even MORE important and deserving of a straight answer.)

Everyone knows that the HST is a regressive tax which hurts the “poorest of the poor” most. Why? Because they (like the rich) must pay HST on many essential items they have no choice but to purchase in order to survive, and it’s worth recalling that Wade MacLaughlan RAISED the HST, despite promising not to do so before getting elected in 2015.

There were other “Great Questions – No Answers” in today’s Question (Period); however, the Premier’s sheer audacity in presenting himself as legitimately sympathetic to the plight of poor Islanders while offering no answer to a question that afforded him a concrete opportunity to demonstrate REAL support for poor Islanders makes him the hands-down winner of today’s contest.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

Kevin J. Arsenault