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Premier Dalton McGuinty speaks during a news conference after the Auditor-General's report on Ontario's electronic health records agency at Queen's Park on October 7, 2009.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

Premier Dalton McGuinty says Ontario will benefit if British Columbia decides to kill its controversial harmonized sales tax.

He says it will give Ontario - which also implemented the HST on July 1 - a competitive advantage.

His comments come after the B.C. government promised to scrap the unpopular HST if a majority of people in that province vote to repeal it.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell says he'll forego official rules and turn next September's referendum into an election-style simple majority vote on the future of the tax.

That vote will happen during Ontario's next provincial election campaign, which Mr. McGuinty says will be Ontario's referendum on the HST.

Many Ontario residents have voiced their dissatisfaction with the tax, but there's been no movement like the one in B.C. to get rid of it.

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