Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is playing Father Christmas with a seasonal tax break amid growing frustration about Canada’s cost of living.
The prime minister announced on Thursday a two-month limited sales tax break on a fixed list of goods during the holiday season.
The list includes Christmas trees, restaurant food, toys, alcohol and candy, among other things.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre – who will face the Liberal prime minister in the next election – called Trudeau’s tax measures a “tactic” intended to divert attention from the government’s role in increasing spending.
“For two months, Canadians will get a real break from everything they do,” Trudeau said at a press conference.
“Our government will not be able to decide the prices where you pay, but we can put more money in people’s pockets. That will make people free what they need. People are in a pinch and we are here to help.”
Inflation in Canada has reached 8.1% in 2022, according to Statistics Canada, and has decreased from 2% this November. But added costs on everything from rent to shopping have hit the wallets of many Canadians.
Last spring, a Statistics Canada survey found that 45% of Canadians said rising prices made it harder for them to meet their daily expenses.
Trudeau’s limited tax exemption, if approved by parliament, will run from December 15 to February 15. It would eliminate the federal sales tax known as the GST — or the harmonized sales tax (HST) in states that combine federal and state sales taxes into a single tax — on a select list of items.
Those things include:
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Food and drinks that are usually exempt from tax, such as processed foods, sweets, alcohol and sodas.
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Toys for children under 14 years of age
The government has estimated that the aid will save Canadians C$100-$260 (£56.86-£147.82) if they spend C$2,000 (£1,137.10) this time.
But those holiday savings will cost the treasury about $1.6bn, a finance official told CBC News.
Trudeau faces an uphill battle as the October 2025 election nears. Leger’s November poll shows Trudeau trailing his main rival, Poilievre, by 16 points. And more than two-thirds of Canadians in the same poll said they were dissatisfied with his government.
In September, Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) ended its two-and-a-half-year deal with his Liberal Party that had helped keep his minority government in power.
This move does not mean that elections will be called automatically, but it makes it possible to hold early elections, in the fall of 2025.
Trudeau has already survived two no-confidence votes in Parliament since September.
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