If a cut to the GST was Stephen Harper's hidden agenda, then I want him to begin keeping more secrets.

This has been an interesting week indeed for Torontonians watching the election. The week began with Stephen Harper revisitng the same-sex marriage issue, on his FIRST DAY of the campaign. It left many people scratching their heads, asking themselves; "will this guy ever learn?" Of course these are the same people that refuse to read the fine print on what he said. Essentially all Harper said was that he would hold a vote in the House of Commons on whether or not to re-open the issue of the traditional definiton of marriage. He also said that if that FREE VOTE was defeated, the issue would be put to bed.

Despite this apparent gaffe in Harper's first day of campaigning, the media was more receptive to his message, they recognized the fact that he was not saying "i'm going to ban gay marriage." He was in fact, standing up for democracy in it's truest form in the House of Commons, allowing a non-whipped vote on an issue that has polarized Canadians for some time now. I admire Harper's courage in this regard.

My prediciton, Harper will be the next Prime Minister and this is why ....

Whether good or bad, Harper has completely dominated the election campaign for the first week. He faced the same-sex issue head on, cutting the Liberals at the knees on that one. Harper really has set the agenda thus far, and he has essentially put that one issue to rest.

His key plank in his platform thus far has been the cut to the GST. This has been heralded with much fanfare, but also with criticism. What people forget is the reason this tax was implemented, it was implemented to help curb the defecit, and was brought in, during the not-so-rosy economic times during the Mulrouney government. As we all know, Canada DOES NOT RUN A DEFICIT, and has not for years!!!

It makes sense that the GST is cut. Canada has had year over year surpluses now for the last 8 years (i believe) and despite that fact, there has been no reduction in the GST which was implemented for the sole purpose of balancing the budget. Cutting the GST is a GOOD thing, no matter how you look at it. With the Liberals making $40 billion of promises in the last week before their government fell, they have no justification to be against cutting the GST.

Have you noticed how Martin has been on the defensive on this issue for the past 36 hours? He has NO excuse for not cutting the GST. Cutting the GST helps every single Torontonian, and that's the truth. If you think about it, it will lower the price on everything we buy, from our TTC tokens to merchandise, cars, paper, any product imagineable. It will mean more money in our pockets!

I hope the Harper fear-mongerers out there continue to rattle their sabres, it seems that Harper is ready to prove everyone wrong - and he might not be as scary as everyone thought.