NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks to reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Nov. 27.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The Liberal government introduced legislation Wednesday to implement a two-month targeted GST cut and the NDP says it will help pass the bill as quickly as Thursday.
But the fate of a related plan to send $250 cheques to working Canadians in the spring remains unclear as the New Democratic Party wants the payouts expanded to include retirees, students and people with disabilities.
The government introduced Bill C-78 Wednesday, which would adopt half of a two-part plan announced last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The bill would implement a $1.6-billion proposal to drop the GST on a wide range of consumer products for a two-month period beginning Dec. 14.
However, as requested by the NDP, the legislation does not include the second part of Mr. Trudeau’s announcement: a $4.68-billion proposal to send most working Canadians a $250 cheque in the spring.
Both measures require the support of the House of Commons and the minority Liberal government cannot pass legislation without help from at least one other party.
Approving any legislation is further complicated by the fact that the government has been unable to move any bills forward since late September. The House has been logjammed over a Conservative-led procedural protest over the government’s decision to not fully comply with a Commons order to hand over documents related to a green technology fund.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party is willing to support steps that would allow the government to temporarily suspend the documents debate in order to quickly pass the GST cut.
“We’ve cleared the path so we can get this done immediately, and then we want to reiterate our demand that the Liberals fix the cheques,” he said.
After the bill was introduced, Mr. Singh declared victory in a written statement, saying the NDP had won tax relief for all Canadians.
“The NDP also supports providing people with $250 cheques, which we will pass at a later date if the Liberals agree to include the most vulnerable people who need it, including seniors, people with disabilities and injured workers. The ball’s in your court, Justin Trudeau,” he said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet spoke out against the two proposals Wednesday, leaving the NDP as the government’s only potential partner.
The NDP initially supported both measures after they were announced last week, assuming that the $250 cheques would go to all Canadians earning less than $150,000. The party has said it was surprised to learn later that only working Canadians in that income threshold would receive the payment.
During Question Period, Mr. Trudeau sharply criticized the NDP position on the cheques, accusing the party of being against a plan aimed at helping working Canadians.
“I remember when the party of Tommy Douglas, Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton was actually a party that stood up for workers,” he said. “We want to be there for workers, and the NDP is suddenly against benefits for workers? It makes no sense.”
Mr. Poilievre repeatedly criticized the Liberal plan Wednesday in the House, urging Mr. Trudeau to call an election and allow Canadians to choose between the Liberals’ “tiny two-month tax trick” and the Conservative plan to permanently eliminate the carbon price on consumers and to cut the GST on new homes.
He said the Liberal plan would leave Canadians worse off by contributing to inflation and chided Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Singh for being at odds over the plan.
“These two leaders cannot even figure out how to give away six billion dollars properly,” he said.
Mr. Blanchet told reporters Wednesday that the Bloc won’t be supporting either measure. He said he’d rather see the more than $6-billion spent evenly on enhancing existing seniors benefits and improving housing programs.
He also said he’d be more open to supporting the direct cheque plan if more was targeted to all Canadians with incomes of around $50,000 or less.
Mr. Blanchet said his MPs have not heard from any constituents who support the temporary sale-tax cut.
“People, enterprises, citizens, elders, everybody seems to say this is a measure which is basically built on the idea that the Liberal government can try to buy votes,” he said.
The Liberals’ GST cut would have automatic implications for the Atlantic provinces and Ontario that participate in a Harmonized Sales Tax with the federal government. The premiers of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick expressed concern about losing the tax revenue from the provincial share of the HST, while the premiers of Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario have been supportive.
The HST agreements include provisions requiring automatic federal compensation for any unilateral GST changes that would reduce provincial sales-tax revenues by more than 1 per cent, but federal ministers have declined to say whether that would apply in this case.
Colin Blachar, a spokesperson for Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday that Ontario will match the federal government’s two-month GST holiday by removing PST from items not currently covered by existing rebates, which he said would provide “nearly $1-billion in additional relief for Ontario families.”
Ontario’s statement made no reference to seeking federal compensation.
With a report from Laura Stone in Toronto