Dalton McGuinty must immediately put the brakes on his HST legislation to ensure Ontario’s battered treasury isn’t further decimated should a federal HST bill die in the House of Commons, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said today.

“It’s far from certain the HST bill will make it through federal Parliament, and that’s a problem because it puts billions of dollars of HST transition funding at risk,” Horwath said.

“Ontario’s bleeding treasury can’t take another multi-billion-dollar hit, but that’s exactly what will happen if the Ontario Liberals ram their bill through Queen’s Park only to find out later that the federal bill died on the Parliament floor.”

Horwath said it makes absolutely no sense for the Ontario Liberals to pass legislation approving a new round of corporate tax cuts when it’s looking increasingly likely that the federal HST bill – and accompanying transition funding for the province – will be stamped out in Ottawa.

“The federal Conservatives have today been clear that they don’t want to lose votes over the HST, and a growing number of federal Liberals are admitting they have cold feet,” Horwath said.

“If Dalton McGuinty wants Ontarians to believe he has any fiscal credibility left, the only thing he can do is announce today that he’s hitting the pause button on this new tax.”