HALIFAX 鈥� Nova Scotia鈥檚 premier cast doubt Friday on a corporate tax rebate that was a key promise in his party鈥檚 2021 election platform.
Speaking to reporters outside the legislative chamber, Tim Houston appeared to back away from the 鈥渂etter paycheque guarantee鈥� 鈥� a promise that was highlighted on the front of the Progressive Conservative election platform document.
The proposal was to give Nova Scotia companies a 50 per cent rebate on their provincial corporate taxes if they used the savings to pay their employees more. The measure excluded the top 20 per cent of a company鈥檚 earners.
But Houston now says he doesn鈥檛 know if the measure is possible as proposed.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure today that it goes forward as it was in the platform documents, but those (government) assessments are continuing to be done,鈥� he said.
Government officials have estimated the promise could cost the province around $200 million in revenue. The premier was asked whether his government could afford to forgo that amount given that the bulk of its budget is going toward health care and hospital infrastructure, while $1.7 billion was announced Monday for housing programs.
鈥淭here are lots of priorities in government and those priorities shift,鈥� Houston said. 鈥淚t could be the case on this one, I鈥檒l say that. We鈥檒l continue to assess the best way to meet the objectives.鈥�
Houston added that he believes many Nova Scotians are already getting higher pay because of his government鈥檚 record in negotiating new contracts with public sector unions.
鈥淐ertainly, with the history we are developing with our labour negotiations, the contracts that we鈥檝e been able to secure, I think lots of those people are getting better paycheques.鈥�
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill welcomed the premier鈥檚 apparent shift, calling the Tory promise 鈥渁 stupid idea鈥� that would have subsidized paycheques for the private sector.
Churchill suggested other measures that the premier could adopt to improve the bottom line for workers.
鈥淗e could cut income taxes, he could cut government fees and he could give some of the money that he鈥檚 collected from people back,鈥� he said.
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she wasn鈥檛 surprised by what looks like a backtrack on a plan 鈥渢hat never made any sense to begin with.鈥�
鈥淚t was a tax cut to corporations with no strings attached 鈥� and it was never clear how it was going to benefit workers,鈥� said Chender.
She suggested that targeted steps such as removing the tax on groceries and waiving pharmacare fees for seniors would make more of a difference for people who are struggling to make ends meet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.
Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
