REGINA – Premier Scott Moe and federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh aren’t exactly seeing eye to eye when it comes to matching Singh’s call to remove the PST on essential items.
Earlier this week, Singh said he had written provincial premiers calling on them to match his pledge to remove the GST from daily essentials like groceries and children’s clothing by also removing the PST from those items. He also called for the provincial PST to be removed from home heating.
“Canadians take care of our neighbours. It’s just who we are,” Singh said on the X platform.
“Taking better care of each other means more relief for you instead of more handouts to the richest corporations. I’ve written to the provincial premiers: an NDP government will scrap the federal tax on daily essentials and monthly bills, and I’ve asked them to step up and scrap the provincial portion, too. People need relief and they need it now.”
On Thursday, Premier Moe issued his written response, but instead of matching the NDP’s call on the PST, Moe said he would fulfill his affordability commitments from the election campaign instead.
Moe’s letter, which was released to the media, states:
“Saskatchewan recently had a provincial election in which affordability was a major issue. Our party proposed a significant number of measures to make life more affordable for students, seniors, homeowners, families and everyone. Your party proposed a temporary gas tax holiday and removal of the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) on a limited number of items, similar to the list that you are proposing.
“As you know, the Saskatchewan Party was re-elected, so we plan to fulfil our affordability commitments during the first sitting of our new Legislative Assembly, which begins next week.”
The PST had been a major issue during the election campaign in which the opposition Saskatchewan New Democrats had called for the removal of the PST from children’s clothing and groceries. In contrast, the Sask Party proposed affordability measures including an income tax reduction, an increase to the Graduate Retention Program, as well as a doubled Active Families Benefit and increasing the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit, among others.
Premier Moe also pointed to Singh’s call to have the PST removed on home heating. He pointed out SaskEnergy does not charge PST on residential natural gas, but also took the time to call for the carbon tax to be removed from home heating.
“I note that you are asking provincial governments to remove the PST on home heating, which is a necessity in Canada, particular during the winter months. Saskatchewan’s Crown owned natural gas provider SaskEnergy does not charge the PST on residential natural gas. However, the Trudeau government, which you support, requires SaskEnergy to charge both the carbon tax and the GST on residential SaskEnergy bills.
“Our government is now providing a carbon tax exemption on home heating, over the objections of the Trudeau government which you support. If you are serious about making life more affordable for Saskatchewan people and all Canadians, you should insist that the Trudeau government remove the carbon tax on home heating for all Canadians. Better yet, you should insist that they eliminate the carbon tax completely on everything for everyone.”
The correspondence from Premier Moe was made public on the same day that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government would be announcing a two-month GST removal from mid-December to mid-February on various items such as toys, diapers, restaurant meals, and beer and wine.