'It’s disappointing': Restaurants say Sask. budget missed the mark
'It’s disappointing': Restaurants say Sask. budget missed the mark
A group representing Canadian restaurants says the Saskatchewan budget missed an opportunity to help the food service industry.
Restaurants Canada was looking for some cost relief as restaurants grapple with skyrocketing food prices, inflation, a labour shortage and recovery from the pandemic.
“The 2023 budget didn't really move the fiscal needle for the restaurant sector. It’s disappointing,” Jennifer Henshaw, Restaurants Canada’s vice-president of the prairies and the north, tells CTV News.
Restaurants Canada says 75 per cent of table-service restaurants are still in debt because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the group is pleased the budget contained no new taxes, it was pushing for measures to help businesses’ bottom lines.
It recommended Saskatchewan follow the lead of other provinces by introducing mitigating measures to soften the impact of the minimum wage increases.
This month, Manitoba introduced the Small Business Minimum Wage Program. The program helps offset the impact of minimum wage increases by offering a one-time lump sum payment of $520 per employee — up to a maximum of $10,400.
Restaurants Canada called for Saskatchewan to reinstate a PST exemption on dining.
In 2017, the province announced restaurant meals would be subject to PST.
Tabled on Wednesday, the province outlined a $1 billion surplus in the budget — which will go towards paying off debt.
“With that $1 billion surplus, they could have gone much farther to provide some cost relief for the hardest hit industries,” Henshaw said.
The finance minister pushed back against spending the surplus because the funding may not be able to continue in the future.
“We have to be very careful as a government to not take one-time revenue and incorporate it and bake it into our year-over-year operational costs … If you’ve baked it into your operational costs, then the following year, where do you find that money,” Finance Minister Donna Harpauer told reporters, following the release of the budget.
With the latest hike bringing Canada's key interest rates to levels not seen since 2001, one mortgage broker is warning that it may be 'the last straw' for some homeowners with variable mortgages.
It's been a busy, tumultuous few days for Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex as he took his place on the witness stand in his trial against the Mirror Group Newspapers. Here are royal commentator Afua Hagan's top takeaways from his two-day grilling.
Poor air quality is forecast to persist into the weekend across parts of Ontario, as plumes of wildfire smoke blanket the province and prompt school boards to limit outdoor activities.
The Bank of Canada's latest decision to raise its key interest rate comes at a time when many are struggling to afford their homes. CTVNews.ca wants to hear from people in Canada who are going to great lengths to find affordable housing.
One of the architects of the law that governs Canada's prison system says it's understandable people want revenge on killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo, but that's not what the prison system is designed for.
With social media ever-present in modern life, figuring out when and how to introduce it to children is something every parent will have to deal with eventually. CTV's Your Morning spoke to a child-life specialist about how parents can have that conversation and be positive role models too.
Family and friends gathered at the spot Haven Dubois's mother pulled his body from the water eight years ago, ready to embark on a cross Canada journey in his honour.
The man who was found not criminally responsible in the stabbing deaths of five people at a house party in Brentwood more than nine years ago is seeking more freedoms.
The man who was found not criminally responsible in the stabbing deaths of five people at a house party in Brentwood more than nine years ago is seeking more freedoms.
The air quality in Toronto has become so polluted due to forest fires in Quebec and Ontario that strenuous outdoor activities could leave you coughing and with an itchy throat.
A regulatory body has revoked the licence of a Mississauga homebuilder after it says that the company demanded that a buyer pay an additional $518,000 for a property that they already had a contract to purchase.
A reward of $100,000 is up for grabs as police in Metro Vancouver renew calls for help finding 36-year-old Cody Timothy Casey—a man wanted Canada-wide for a total of 17 drugs and firearms offences.
The pounding sounds of running on hardwood, the smash of the ball hitting the boards and the cheer of the crowd—it’s officially lacrosse season at Queens Park Arena in New Westminster.
Further evacuations are necessary in Abitibi and Nord-du-Québec due to forest fires. Although the situation has improved on the North Shore due to rain, no precipitation is expected further west until Monday.
In an interview on CJAD 800 Radio, Quebec Conservative Party leader Eric Duhaime said the new measures in place related to Quebec's ammendments to the French Language Charter have made Quebec a 'laughingstock' and that phone and website messages are 'offensive.'
On Wednesday, the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) filed a writ of intervention with the housing tribunal (TAL) to plead in favour of two tenants opposing the clause in their lease prohibiting them from owning animals in their dwelling.
A large wildfire burning on Vancouver Island Wednesday continues to impact traffic on Highway 4, the only highway leading to the west coast communities of Port Alberni, Tofino and Ucluelet.
The chief of the Shelburne Volunteer Fire Department says the blaze near Barrington Lake, which is now classified as “held,” is unlike anything he’s ever seen.
Halifax media outlets were given a tour of the neighbourhoods hardest hit by the Tantallon wildfire Tuesday afternoon and saw firsthand the damage and destruction left behind.
Irving Oil says it’s undertaking a “strategic review” with an eye to its future. In a release Wednesday, the company says it’s looking at a number of options, including the sale of its assets.
A northern Ontario forest fire that started west of Sudbury on Sunday morning has grown to more than 1,000 hectares and has prompted officials to issue an evacuation order for the immediate area as the number of active fires in the region grows.
Poor air quality is forecast to persist into the weekend across parts of Ontario, as plumes of wildfire smoke blanket the province and prompt school boards to limit outdoor activities.
A lifejacket and a swift response by the community are credited with saving the life of a swimmer who had drifted from shore near Grand Bend last weekend.
Smoke from wildfires in Quebec and Northern Ontario is finding its way into the region. While the London, Ont. area has escaped the extreme haze seen over parts of Eastern Ontario, a special air quality advisory is in effect — anyone looking up Tuesday evening could see why.
Construction has started on Dundas Street between Quebec and Egerton streets. The work is for the East London Link and is expected to take about two months to complete.
