Rosa Saba, The Canadian PressPedro Antunes, chief economist of Conference Board of Canada, discusses the impact of the GST holiday on the Canadian economy.
The vice-president of federal government relations for the Retail Council of Canada, Matt Poirier, says Boxing Day in particular is expected to get a boost. A report Thursday from RBC Economics showed retail spending slowed in November, with holiday spending slightly below 2023 levels over the Black Friday weekend. Spending on hobbies, toys and games scaled back notably after Nov. 21, wrote RBC economist Carrie Freestone -- the day the tax break was announced.
For Hempelmann, the transition has been relatively painless: most of the items in his store qualify for the tax break.However, some items -- like vinyl records and journals -- do not qualify. Others have caused confusion. For example, Hempelmann said he found out that graphic novels qualify for the break but the thin, old-fashioned comic books known as “floppy comics” do not.