Is it a figment of your imagination or more accurately that of our prime minister? Do we really need this giveaway? That $6.28 billion Christmas giveaway will not be paid back for generations. The cancelling of the GST on Christmas trees well after the majority have been bought and decorated in homes across the country is as mystical as Santa himself. It’s all a ploy to have Canadians think more favourably of the Trudeau government.
As a sceptic, I wonder what the impact that $250 cheque that will come in the mail to 90% of working Canadians will have in April shortly before we go to the polls. Will we be grateful for that bit of cash that we will end up paying interest on for generations and choose to re-elect the Liberals for another term. Will we forget that in the same month we will be paying another 3.3 cents per litre for gasoline?
Meanwhile persons living on pensions and fixed incomes who are not working will be denied that $250 because they are not considered working Canadians. Premier Ford is going to give Ontario residents a check for $200 to boost his re-election chances. It is coming from unexpected Ontario surpluses. He too will be borrowing against the future of Ontario residents.
I feel sorry for merchants who will have to adjust their computers to take into consideration the changes that they will have to make to accommodate the tax changes by December 14 and then must change back their computers to add back the GST for Valentine’s Day. That is a cost to businesses. Talk about a sweetheart deal the government is offering.
January and February are among the slowest months for dining out and removing the GST on wine and beer and meals in restaurants may give a boost to that industry, but is subsidizing alcohol the best use of tax-payers money? Canadians would be better off to have the 2025 carbon tax increase cancelled. Home heating costs would be controlled, and people would have more cash in their pockets for the year.
The policy did not include tax cuts for home heating fuels for the two coldest months of the year.
There is no fiscally responsible Santa Claus in the federal government. If there was, that Santa Claus would have found ways to cut back the largesse that was built up through Covid and inflation and passed those tax savings onto Canadian taxpayers. This giveaway does nothing to stimulate the economy or assist Canadians in the long run. It is shortsighted and a waste.
