
Canada's GST is collected as a sales tax and is considered a VAT.
Funnily, the previous hidden wholesale tax that it replaces was
never referred to as a tax (or, people never paid mind to it,
thus the uproar when it was brought up front as the GST --- 
one party has actually campaigned on hiding the tax again).

The stated intent of the Tories was to use the GST to write down
our deficit.  Unfortunately, their legislation didn't include any
mechanism for disbursing the collected funds in such a manner and
the money is now sitting in escrow.  I don't know what is involved
in releasing the funds, but one dilemna is that the Tories are not
fiscal conservatives themselves though while taxing and spending,
they've made moves to apply the breaks to a runaway locomotive by
the end of this time --- the end of their second term (~9 years).
While they do have chances of getting a third term, catching up
in the polls to their more moderate/slightly leftish pro-business
rivals, the Liberals (as in Euro/UK), the Tories' heir-apparent 
for the leaders' mantle has been termed a clone of Hillary 
Clinton ...

gld