Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is turning its back on workers by holding up a promised $250 rebate the Liberals promised to send to millions of Canadians.
Last week, Trudeau announced a multi-billion-dollar affordability package that includes a proposed two-month GST holiday on some goods and services — including children’s toys, beer and wine and restaurant meals — and a plan to send $250 cheques to the 18.7 million people in Canada who worked in 2023 and earned $150,000 or less.
The House of Commons passed a bill to enact the tax holiday on Thursday, but the government didn’t include the rebate cheque portion after the NDP promised to withhold its support if the government didn’t split the promises into two pieces of legislation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked Friday if he would expand eligibility for the $250 rebate cheques to seniors and people with disabilities who didn’t work in 2023. In response, the PM pointed to previous moves by his government to support seniors and families — but offered no specifics about potential changes to the proposed rebate.
“To see the NDP — which was supposedly the party of workers — turn its back on working Canadians and say, ‘No, we shouldn’t be delivering this cheque unless we expand it massively,’ is not recognizing working Canadians for the challenges they’re facing,” Trudeau told a news conference on Friday.
Some Canadians — including seniors — have raised concerns about being excluded from receiving the rebate cheques.
The NDP initially said it would support the measure but is now calling on the government to expand its eligibility to include seniors, people with disabilities and injured workers.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party will help pass separate legislation for the rebate cheques if the government agrees to his demands.
“Why would we support a measure that doesn’t include seniors, people living with disabilities and people who just started working?” he told a press conference on Friday.
“The ball is in the Liberal court right now. If they want to fix this and make sure that everyone who needs it gets it, we’ll get it done like we got the GST holiday done.
“But if they want to exclude seniors, no, it’s not going to happen.”
Trudeau argued that the rebate cheques are meant to be a targeted measure to help “hard-working Canadians” who might be excluded from other government support programs.
“We’re going to continue to work on being there for seniors, as we have, as we will continue to. We’re looking at different ways of helping all sorts of different people,” he said.
“But seeing hard-working Canadians — who get up, go to work every day and make our economy and communities successful — and recognizing them specifically, that’s what this is all about.”
The federal government estimates that the tax holiday would cost the federal treasury an estimated $1.6 billion in foregone revenue. As it’s currently designed, the $250 cheque program would cost about $4.68 billion, a Finance official told CBC News.
The House has been unable to move forward with regular business for weeks as opposition MPs have pushed the Liberal government to release documents related to a now-defunct foundation responsible for doling out hundreds of millions of federal dollars for green technology projects.
Because the matter is considered a question of privilege, it takes precedence over all other House business. The NDP voted with the Liberals to temporarily pause the privilege debate on Thursday in order to move the GST bill through the House. Singh said New Democrats would be willing to do the same for legislation involving the rebate cheques if the government agrees to their conditions.