Liberals plan to temporarily remove GST from some essential products

Photo: Sergey Ryzhov Getty Images The Trudeau government is expected to announce a temporary GST cut on some essential items on Thursday.

Nojoud Al Mallees – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published at 6:16 a.m.

• Canada

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce a temporary cut to the GST on some essential items on Thursday to ease affordability pressures.

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NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement that the announcement is in response to his party’s calls to permanently lift the goods and services tax on a range of expenses.

“This is far from the substantial, permanent relief the NDP wants to provide Canadians. As usual, the Liberals are failing people by choosing to make this a short-term tax holiday on select items,” Singh said.

Last week, Mr. Singh promised that an NDP government would eliminate the GST on home heating, grocery meals, internet and cell phone bills, diapers and children's clothing.

The Globe and Mail reported that the prime minister was set to announce a multi-billion dollar package of accessibility measures, including the GST cut.

Mr. Trudeau is expected to make an announcement alongside Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Thursday morning in Toronto.

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Singh said in the statement that New Democrats will vote in favour of the measure to help provide immediate relief to Canadians.

That suggests the NDP could help the government break a logjam in Parliament that is preventing the legislation from being passed.

The expected announcement comes as the Liberals continue to struggle in public opinion polls and face increasing pressure to address Canadians' affordability concerns.