Small grocery store owner Seyed Ahmadi could soon be getting the same sales tax break as his larger competitors. On budget day last month, the province announced it is removing PST on all food and drink items at grocery stores as of July. But smaller operations, like Ahmadi’s Ellice Avenue Deli Store, don’t make the cut. “It’s absolutely unfair. It’s absolutely unfair,” he said. Any location less than 280 square metres does not qualify, meaning a lot of mom and pop shops are being left out. Now, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says they are looking at expanding the PST cut to smaller grocers. “We’re basically looking to make this, as much as possible, the place where you go to buy your food, whether that’s somewhere in the neighbourhood or it’s maybe a bigger location,” he said. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says this is a good first step. Still, the organization has released a petition for businesses to sign, calling on the province to expand even farther to include restaurants meals. CFIB prairie director Brianna Solberg says it shouldn’t matter where people buy food. “Restaurants really have been struggling, as you can imagine, ever since the pandemic,” Solberg said. “They haven’t seen the same level of consumer traffic. It just hasn’t spiked back up.” Kinew says the aim of the measure with groceries is to target those who need the help most. “You’re the person who is living in poverty and you can’t afford to go out to the restaurant, you get all your meals from the store,” he said. Ahmadi says slashing the PST at his store would help many in the neighbourhood who are low income and can’t drive to the bigger chains. “Hopefully they change their mind,” he said.
