I was following along your posts with interest and mostly agreement around pricing externalities .
Then you went partisan with  the connection with the reduction in GST related to oil. .
As I recall it was  simple enough, the gov,t had a windfall in revenues and reduced a tax . (You can argue the merits of which tax to reduce , but it was a reduction)
But , Bannister , the Harper government is now gone, and being a  Liberal  , why has the  government not raised the GST by 2% as you advocate? Its easy enough to admnister.
Better that,  than wreck the retained earning of balance sheets of snall medium business through the tax reform ( which they will back down from)