bracket. The Conservatives argued that the GST cuts would benefit all Canadians, including low-income earners and those outside the workforce who do not pay income tax. The first GST cut went into effect on July 1, 2006, and no provinces have raised provincial sales tax as a demonstrable result. Nova Scotia raised the provincial sales tax 2 points as part of deficit-fighting measures under the Dexter government; this was put in place on July 1, 2010. The second cut was later announced in the 2007 Throne Speech and officially confirmed on October 30, 2007 during an economic statement update on the country finances. Reception The budget was met with dissent by the Liberal and New Democratic parties and mostly positive reception from the Bloc. The Liberals and NDP voiced disapproval over the Conservatives following through on their election promise to replace the Liberals' child care policy with their own, and for replacing Canada's $4 billion environmental policy with a $2 billion "made in Canada" plan of their design. The budget received widespread support among the business community and polling indicated that a clear majority of Canadians approved of the budget. Vote While it initially appeared that the only way the Conservatives' budget would pass would be with the support of the Bloc Québécois, the budget passed third reading without dissent on June 6, 2006, when the members of the Opposition failed to stand after the Deputy Speaker of the House called for debate. Because there were no speakers for the Opposition, the budget was declared passed with unanimous support and no recorded vote and thus forwarded to the Senate for approval. This marked the first time in Canadian Parliamentary history where a government's budget passed unanimously on the third and final reading. On September 25, 2006, the Conservative government announced that within the fiscal year, there was a $13.2 billion surplus that will be used to pay down the country's debt. Income Trusts Controversy Economist Yves Fortin challenged the reasons for the change in tax regime announced by Flaherty and disputed the Harper-government assertion that the Trust structure led to a loss of tax revenue because of trust conversions in his research paper. Income Trusts and Tax Leakage: Is there a problem? Analyst Gordon Tait also raised concerns about the lack of consultation and misconceptions surrounding the change in tax policy on Trusts in The Inconvenient Truth About Trusts. Analyst