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Your move, Doug FordLast updated 0 minutes ago You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles’ proposal to eliminate the provincial share of HST on all food and drink items would be less of a tax savings for the wealthy homeowner than for someone working in the gig economy and grabbing something to eat on the way home. Photo by Adobe StockShort of hoping that Doug Ford would manage to buy himself another luxury vehicle before the Ontario legislature breaks for summer, Opposition Leader Marit Stiles and team have been presumably casting about for an issue that could score them some points during the final stretch of what has been a rocky few weeks for the premier.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. 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Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorShe might have just landed on something.At an event in Scarborough on Friday morning, Stiles said the NDP would introduce a bill at Queen’s Park next week that would eliminate the provincial share of HST on all food and drink items — from rotisserie chickens to potato chips to Slushies — to help combat the ever-rising cost of groceries.This newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againThere are some justifiable reasons for eye-rolling a little at the suggestion. One, it is another example of Stiles lifting a policy straight out of the playbook of Wab Kinew, the popular NDP premier of Manitoba. Do they not have anyone else they can call for ideas? Two, it is one of those pocketbook populist ideas that under other circumstances the NDP would be complaining about. Reducing the overall tax base is not a great way to direct more spending to important progressive causes.And yet, at this moment in time, there is no disputing that groceries have become painfully expensive for many, and any government, Ford’s in particular, is going to have a hard time arguing against a policy that would alleviate some of that pain. “No Tax on Food,” as the sign said on the podium in front of Stiles on Friday, makes for a fine slogan right now.A Bank of Canada report in February said that grocery prices had risen by about 22 per cent since 2022, well above the 13 per cent increase in consumer prices in general, and that the food-related increases were persistent while other categories had seen inflation ease in recent years.This is not news to anyone who has wandered down a grocery aisle. Coffee has evidently become a precious resource. Beef is so expensive that meatloaf must now be considered a luxury item. Meatloaf!But those items, like most grocery staples, are already tax-exempt, which is where Stiles’ proposal gets interesting. Normally an NDP demand to remove a consumer tax from something can properly be ridiculed because it ends up giving the biggest benefit to the wealthy. Cutting the tax on home heating, to pick one example, grants a huge savings to someone living in a 4,000-square-foot home, but much less of one to someone renting a 700-square-foot apartment.But a removal of the sales tax on all food would be most noticeable on prepared meals and various snacks, the kinds of items that low-income workers are more likely to be purchasing than, say, fine cuts of (tax-exempt) steak. That is, the wealthy homeowner who buys her groceries from the neighbourhood boutique shop would likely see less of a tax savings under Stiles’ proposal than someone working in the gig economy and grabbing something to eat on the way home from Wal-Mart or the dollar store.Not that it would be a tremendous savings in any circumstance. I conducted some investigative journalism for this column, which is to say I fished five grocery receipts out of the bottom of the reusable bins and bags that are piled chaotically near the garage door — everyone has one of these piles, yes? — and out of the total of $354.55 spent on those five trips, all to one of the big corporate chains that Stiles dislikes with a fervour, the total HST was $10.99.Remove the federal portion of that 13 per cent, and I would have saved about six dollars under the NDP’s plan. Still, that’s not nothing: free carton of milk!What will Ford say about all this? We will find out next week. (The premier was at an event in Sault Ste. Marie on Friday, and was not asked about the planned NDP motion.) But it puts him in a tricky spot. The premier has been only too happy to remove gas taxes, road tolls, licence-plate fees, and any number of associated costs that he argues are too much of a burden on hardworking Joe and Jane Lunchpail. He has noted many times in recent weeks that the cost of groceries is something he hears about all the time in frequent sessions of listening to, you know, the people.And here comes Stiles with a proposal to deliver immediate savings to those same people, who are just trying to put food on the table. Those kinds of meat-and-potatoes (sorry) issues are just the thing that Ford says he cares about more than the stuff that the media is always peppering him about.It wouldn’t even be that costly to the provincial purse. The Manitoba government has said it will forgo $24-million by removing the provincial sales tax on all food. Given the population difference between the provinces, and the difference in sales-tax rates, Ontario would lose something like $300 million, just by back-of-napkin calculations, if it passed the NDP’s bill.Or about 10 used Challenger jets, that is. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.