Scott Moe rejects federal NDP’s suggestions for affordability relief

Premier Scott Moe gave a big ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ to a series of suggestions from the federal NDP on how to improve affordability.

On Wednesday, as he was encouraging the federal government to give Canadians relief on the GST, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also sent a letter to all of Canada’s premiers, asking them to cut the PST on some items.

“People need relief and they need it now. I’m asking Canada’s premiers to join me in taking better care of people by scrapping the sales tax on daily essentials and monthly basics. My tax-free essentials pledge plus provincial sales tax relief would go a long way to giving people some breathing room,” said Singh in a news release on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, Premier Scott Moe’s office released his letter responding to Singh.

In his letter, Moe discussed the Sask. Party’s promises in the recent provincial election on affordability, noting that Singh’s request was similar to some of the campaign promises proposed by the Sask. NDP. Moe said his government will continue with its own commitments when the fall sitting begins on Monday.

Moe also challenged Singh, saying that if he’s concerned about affordability, he should tell the Liberal government to cut 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,” Moe wrote.

During the provincial election, the Sask. Party promised a series of tax cuts in a bid to help people struggling with affordability. On the first day of the campaign, Moe announced that his government would increase a number of income tax exemptions and raise the low income tax credit.

The fall sitting will only be two weeks long, but Moe’s government has said that will be long enough to present and pass the Speech from the Throne and introduce a number of bills to fulfill campaign promises.

On Thursday, the federal Liberal government announced a potential temporary pause on the GST on a number of items, with the federal NDP taking credit for having pushed the government into it.