Ottawa is discussing with Quebec a possible holiday from the QST, in addition to the GST holiday

Photo: Adrian Wyld The Canadian Press Federal Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada did not want to go further than to state that “we will work with Quebec to get there, but I do not want to presume the conversations that we will have.”

Pierre Saint-Arnaud – The Canadian Press

Published at 1:17 p.m.

• Canada

Federal Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada suggested that the door is not closed to Ottawa possibly compensating the Quebec government for it to follow suit with the temporary federal tax holiday, but was careful not to get ahead of herself either, simply stating that “there are conversations currently taking place with the Quebec government. We’re going to let those conversations happen.”

While visiting a Montreal restaurant on Friday morning to promote the GST exemption for certain items, food and restaurants, Ms. Martinez Ferrada mostly stuck to repeating the intention expressed the day before by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to offer “a real discount, a real tax holiday for Quebecers.”

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Elsewhere in Canada, provincial sales taxes are harmonized with the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST), and the temporary tax holiday for the holiday season will also apply to the portion provincial.

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In Quebec, however, the provincial government itself collects the Quebec sales tax (QST) and Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard clearly stated in an interview Friday morning that Quebec would not lift its sales tax unless it received compensation from the federal government.

Ms. Martinez Ferrada, however, did not want to go further than to state that “we will work with Quebec to get there, but I do not want to presume what conversations we will have with Quebec.”

“A greater number of people” helped by the $250 cheque

Soraya Martinez Ferrada, who is the MNA for Hochelaga, was also called upon to defend this initiative of a temporary tax holiday with sending a check for $250 next April to all Canadians who earned less than $150,000 net per year in 2023.

“We must remember that we have taken many measures to help people who are most vulnerable,” she first stated, referring to the rent allowance and the family allowance. “But a person living alone, a person who is in a couple and who does not have children has not had any help during this period which is also difficult. So the measure that we have put in place is a measure that is a little broader, which will help a greater number of people, because these are all people who are also experiencing a difficulty in the cost of living at the moment,” she argued.

As for the administrative burden imposed on merchants who will have to reprogram their cash registers to exempt certain products from the GST and reprogram them two months later, she said she believes that “the benefits will be significant” due to a predictable increase in sales. “People will come back to restaurants, they will come back stronger because there is an interesting financial incentive. I think the administrative cost will be worth it.” »

Making choices

The minister also sought to justify the fact that certain items such as chips, candy and beer will benefit from the exemption, but not sportswear, for example.

“During the holiday season, yes, we will buy perhaps a little more candy, we will have a little more chips, we will buy a bottle of wine, a bottle of beer. The important thing was to ensure that we gave families and people a tax exemption on the goods that we use the most. Unfortunately […], there are choices to be made and these are the choices that we made.”

Ms. Martinez Ferrada said she hopes “that all parties in Parliament will water down their wine to make sure that we get this bill passed.”

The goal of the discussions with the opposition parties, she said, is to “agree on maybe a reprieve from the obstruction that the Conservatives are currently doing in the House to be able to pass this bill that I think will help a lot of people in need during this holiday season.”