Regina Food Bank says proposed GST pause is ‘positive’ but urges caution

The Regina Food Bank is cautiously optimistic about the federal government’s announcement to pause GST for two months.

The pause would essentially make all foods in Canada tax-free from Dec. 14 until Feb. 15.

Food bank CEO John Bailey said the proposed policy measure is a step in the right direction, but won’t reduce the amount of people facing food insecurity.

“This in itself is a positive thing but by no means is a sort of a magic bullet that’s going to somehow mean that there are less people turning the food bank,” he told 980 CJME on Thursday.

Bailey said the food bank is still trying to understand how the announcement will affect its ability to buy food.

“(What) we’re still trying to navigate, is what that’s going to mean at the wholesale level — if it’s going to make a really meaningful impact, especially given the fact that what we’re procuring doesn’t necessarily fit in some of those broad categories as announced.”

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Bailey said the food bank doesn’t anticipate a negative impact.

“We think it might sort of spur people on to donate more … because they’ll be able to see that they have the equivalent of the GST left to spend,” he said.

Bailey said the holiday season brings a mix of festive gatherings but also an increase in economic pressure on people.

“What we tend to see is a little bit of an increase in the number of folks that are accessing the Food Bank this time of year,” he said. “That increase is maybe a little bit less pronounced in recent years, only because our numbers are so high all year round.”

Bailey said Regina Food Bank recorded around 204,000 points of service and is trending closer to 222,030.

The food bank’s new food hub serves an average of 220-240 people per day and is trying to increasingly expand that number, according to Bailey.

Bailey urged people to consider donating to the food bank either online or in person amid the ongoing Canada Post strike.

Business welcomes tax relief

On Thursday’s Evan Bray Show, Shawn Moen of 9 Mile Legacy Brewing in Saskatoon, praised the federally announced measure.

“I don’t ever want to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Moen said. “Tax Relief is a good thing. It’ll be administratively, a bit complex for small businesses to roll out. Not impossible, but we have systems that are set up to collect GST.”

Listen to Shawn Moen on the Evan Bray show:

Moen said he was even more excited about the GST relief on items like children’s toys and diapers.

“I think this (GST pause) is a smart policy move from that perspective for the hospitality sector that is on its heels right now as people are pinching pennies,” he said.

“It’d be nice to see the province follow the same suit on that front.”

Moen said the introduction of PST on restaurants in 2017 was harmful for the hospitality industry.