Federal parties can protect jobs and affordability by permanently exempting all food from GST/HST, in face of new U.S. tariffs

/EIN News/ -- Toronto, April 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The next government can protect the 1.2 million workers in the foodservice industry, improve food affordability for Canadians and help keep foodservice businesses afloat during the tariff war by exempting all food from sales taxes, as it did during the recent GST/HST holiday, says Restaurants Canada. Eight in 10 (77%) Canadians would like to see the GST/HST holiday made permanent, and 84% believe food should not be taxed, according to a spark*insights public opinion poll conducted on behalf of Restaurants Canada. 

New Statistics Canada data reveal that commercial foodservice sales increased by a robust 7.5% year-over-year in January. Even after adjusting for inflation, real sales rose by 4.3%—the highest real growth since April 2023. This supports earlier findings that the GST/HST holiday led to a 67,500 year-over-year increase in foodservice sector jobs in January.

“Restaurants are the number one source of first-time jobs and the fourth largest private-sector employer in Canada,” said Kelly Higginson, President and CEO of Restaurants Canada. “A million dollars in sales in our sector generates $1.8 million in output in the wider economy and 17.6 jobs, both above the average for other industries. There is real opportunity here for the next government to invest in a major driver of the Canadian and local economies, protect jobs and help make life more affordable for Canadians.”

Restaurants and their employees pay $26 billion in federal, provincial and municipal taxes and contribute 4% of the national GDP. However, economic instability has left the sector vulnerable: 53% of foodservice businesses say they are operating at a loss or just breaking even, up from 12% pre-pandemic. Bankruptcies in the industry increased by 45% in the first eight months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Restaurants Canada has reached out to all the major federal parties with a list of additional recommendations for their platforms, including reducing interprovincial trade barriers and reducing payroll taxes.

“2024 was a tough year for restaurants, with consumer spending down due to the affordability crisis impacting Canadians across the country, while every operating cost was going up. The GST/HST holiday was a much-needed boost, but we need permanent measures to address affordability for Canadians and allow our industry to continue to be a major contributor to the Canadian economy, especially as we face the new threat of U.S. tariffs,” concluded Higginson. 

About Restaurants Canada
Restaurants Canada is a national, not-for-profit association advancing Canada’s diverse and dynamic foodservice industry. Restaurants are a nearly $120 billion industry employing 1.2 million Canadians and is the number one source of first-time jobs in Canada.

Methodology: The survey was conducted by spark*advocacy, with 3,000 Canadian residents from February 13th to February 19th, 2025. A random sample of panelists were invited to complete the survey from a set of partner panels based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are typically double opt-in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source. The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 1.55%, 19 times out of 20. The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

Milena Stanoeva
                    Restaurants Canada
                    6479211758
                    media@restaurantscanada.org