Tax break for Ontario First Nations has Atlantic chief asking: why not us too?
OTTAWA – A potential tax break for Ontario’s First Nations has an Atlantic Canada chief wondering whether his community can get one as well. An announcement could come by the end of this week that Ontario’s First Nations have won their battle to be fully exempted from the provincial portion of the new harmonized sales tax. A spokesman for the Union of Ontario Indians would say only that talks are underway, out of concern that any other information could jeopardize a deal. “It’s like a labour negotiation. There are times when you talk and times not to talk,” said Maurice Switzer. The campaign against it has included blockades, threats of highway tolls and suggestions of protests at the G8 and G20 meetings in Ontario, which begin later this month. While the HST doesn’t come into effect in Ontario or British Columbia until July, it’s been in place in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland since 1997. When it was introduced, First Nations there lost the same right Ontario is fighting
