QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Temporary Tax Measures
December 3, 2024
Senator Gold, the Trudeau government is pushing a temporary GST holiday on junk food while also rushing through Bill C-252, which is a Liberal member of Parliament’s bill outlawing the advertising of junk food to children. The bill prohibits ads for foods with “. . . more than the prescribed level of sugars, saturated fat or sodium . . . .”
How many of the sugary and salty snacks that your government is exempting from the GST fall under that category? The list includes the following: candies, such as candy floss, chewing gum and chocolate; snacks coated with candy, chocolate, honey, molasses, sugar, syrup or artificial sweeteners; chips, crisps, puffs, curls or sticks — such as potato chips, corn chips, cheese puffs, potato sticks, bacon crisps and cheese curls — popcorn, brittle pretzels and salted nuts; ice lollies, ice cream and sherbet; cakes, muffins, pies, pastries, tarts, cookies, doughnuts, brownies and pudding.
Senator Gold, Trudeau’s temporary tax trick will not fool Canadians. His government can’t promote junk food and condemn it at the same time. Will the Prime Minister admit that his plan is just holiday hypocrisy?
Thank you for your question and for stimulating those of us with a sugar problem to be hungry.
This temporary measure is designed to give Canadian families a break during the holiday period. It is not to promote bad eating habits. It is to recognize that at this time of the year, families — parents and their children — are going to be celebrating, and, in that regard, it will leave it to families to decide how to best take advantage of this opportunity.
If that includes a parent’s decision to allow their children to have one of the products — and you didn’t mention everything, of course — then that is a parental prerogative that this government respects.
Senator Gold, since you never seem to give speeches on government bills anymore, I was surprised to see that you actually did give a speech on behalf of the government supporting private member’s Bill C-252. Now the Liberal government bill exempting junk food from the GST is before the Senate Chamber at the same time as Liberal Bill C-252, which bans the advertising of junk food.
As the Liberal government leader in the Senate, how will you vote: Flip or flop?
Thank you for your interest. My voting is a matter of public record.
The government supports the bill that you mentioned. This is not a question of flipping or flopping or hypocrisy. It is possible for adult legislatures as well as citizens and parents to hold multiple ideas in mind at the same time.
Again, the bill that is before us — Bill C-78 — is designed to give families a break, respecting their choices. The other bill to which you referred and to which I have already spoken is an important bill that this government hopes will be adopted.
