In one of those Q and A exchanges, minister of finance Donna Harpauer was asked directly by a councillor from the town of Churchbridge about the collection of PST. The minister was asked why they don’t give PST rebates to municipalities and why they need to collect PST on essential service projects such as a water plant or a fire truck. Harpauer pointed out that the PST collected comes back to communities in additional revenue sharing. “The municipalities benefit from the PST that government pays government through the revenue sharing formula.” She also pointed to the funding provided to municipalities through revenue sharing, the MEEP program, infrastructure programs partnering with the federal government, and the 10 percent reduction on power usage, among others.
Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison responded by phone on Feb. 4 with their perspectives on this surge in sales. “To see merchandise exports, for example, increasing over the course of the last year, to see like wholesale trade, for example, which is an important leading indicator, 22 per cent increase over the course of the last year, which is just a remarkable statistic, he said. “You know, we ve seen housing starts which have increased in a very, very real way, 72 per cent. From November 2019 to November 2020 to see over the course of 11 months consistently over the course of 11 months, increase in near 37 per cent on housing starts. All of these numbers are very positive. They are, I think, actually very counterintuitive for a lot of observers, likely from outside of the province. But that being said, we still do have challenges, but there are some very real and positive leading indicators as far as wholesale trade, but also the current statistics i
Speaking from Regina, Harrison said, “We ve had some very, very positive economic data despite the obvious challenges that exist because of the COVID pandemic. We have had some really remarkable numbers. “To see merchandise exports, for example, increasing over the course of the last year, to see like wholesale trade, for example, which is an important leading indicator, 22 per cent increase over the course of the last year, which is just a remarkable statistic. You know, we ve seen housing starts which have increased in a very, very real way, 72 per cent. From November 2019 to November 2020 to see over the course of 11 months consistently over the course of 11 months, increase in near 37 per cent on housing starts. All of these numbers are very positive. They are, I think, actually very counterintuitive for a lot of observers, likely from outside of the province. But that being said, we still do have challenges, but there are some very real and positive leading indicators as