This article originally ran on Nov. 27, 2024. Since then, the House of Commons has passed the federal government's GST proposal. It takes effect this weekend.
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Torontonians could have some extra cash in their pockets this holiday season as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government are introducing legislation that would pause the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) for two months.
If passed, the GST/HST would be fully and temporarily relieved on a number of items like groceries, restaurant meals, alcohol, snacks and children’s clothing and toys from Dec. 14, 2024, to Feb. 15, 2025.
The government is also looking to give $250 rebate cheques to income-earning Canadians who made less than $150,000 last year. An estimated 18.7 million people would receive the payment.
But these proposals aren’t exactly brightening everyone’s holiday spirits.
Peggy Nash, the senior advisor to the Ted Rogers School of Management Centre for Labour Management Relations at Toronto Metropolitan University, told TorontoToday Trudeau’s legislation would cost the government around $6 billion.
She believes the money could be better spent.
“People will take the $250 and say, ‘thank you very much,’ but it takes us in the wrong direction,” she said. “We can do a lot of good in helping families accessing family doctors and creating more childcare spaces. We can probably find enough housing to end homelessness in the country. But when you parcel this money out on an individual basis, it has much less impact.”
Some of Trudeau’s political rivals have claimed the prime minister is attempting to buy votes ahead of next year’s election. Currently, Trudeau sits well behind in the public opinion polls.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre called Trudeau’s GST holiday a “two-month, temporary tax trick.”
Nash would agree.
“It’s politically motivated,” she said. “The Liberals have been in the political doldrums now for over a year. They’re trying to grab onto anything that will help them in the opinion polls. They have been hammered by Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh on the affordability crunch that many Canadians have been facing, so they’re trying to respond to that.”
This week, TorontoToday cameras spent some time around the downtown core to see how locals felt about the government’s proposals — and the skepticism was high.
