Liberals won't introduce HST, says candidate

A Liberal candidate says his party will not bring in the harmonized sales tax,even thoughLeader Robert Ghiz has saidhe might consider the tax if he could get a deal from the federal government.

"The Liberal Party will not implement the HST," said Gerard Greenan, candidate for Summerside-St. Eleanors.

Greenan made the assertion in an online debate on taxes and the economy Thursday.It wasthe fourthdebate with representatives from all five parties hosted by CBC News.

But, at the first public leaders' debate on Sept. 8, Ghiz said he might consider the HST if he could get an acceptable offer of compensation from the federal government. He saidOttawa's offer to P.E.I. was unacceptable, although hehad deniedProgressive Conservative Leader Olive Crane's accusations of having secret HST negotiations withOttawa.

The PC, NDP,Island Party andGreen candidates participating in the online debateall said they oppose the tax.

"The main issue I see for Islanders is to make sure we retain our sovereigntyi.e. to refuse the HST," said Jane Dunphy, NDP candidate from Georgetown-St. Peters.

Darcie Lanthier, of Morell-Mermaid agreed.

"HST will hurt consumers and injured consumers are not good for business," said Lanthier.

The Island Party's Derek Peters, from the Tignish-Palmer Road district, said, "The thing about putting in the HST, once it's there, there's no way to get rid of it. The GST was supposed to be temporary. But it's 2011 and we're still paying GST."

The next online debate on rural issues will be heldSept. 27, with the sixth and final debate open topicon Sept. 29. Both events start at 6:30 p.m. and run for an hour.