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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4131070_web1_260325-kinew-0558.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Premier Wab Kinew uses a rotisserie chicken to demonstrate the PST exemption on ready-made food and other grocery items in the NDP\u2019s newly-tabled budget, during a March press conference. Restaurants appear to have been left out of the affordability measure.<\/p>\n
The question of what actually defines a grocery store, and if it includes convenience stores and mom-and-pop shops, is something the province is hammering out now, Premier Wab Kinew said Friday.<\/p>\n
The goal, he said, is for PST to be removed from grocery items \u201cacross the board\u201d by Canada Day, and further details may be released in a tax bulletin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a devil-in-the-details-type situation,\u201d Kinew said at an unrelated press conference Friday. \u201cWe want to change, when you go to buy food, fill your fridge, fill the cupboards up, we want to take the tax off everything. And now we\u2019re up against implementation details.\u201d<\/p>\n
He seemed less open to the idea of changing the exemption to include restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re the person who is living in poverty and you can\u2019t afford to go out to the restaurant, you get all your meals from the store, this is there to help you,\u201d he said. \u201cA provincial government can\u2019t do everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manitoba Restaurant and Food-
\nservices Association president Shaun Jeffrey said he and a representative from non-profit Restaurants Canada are meeting with Finance Minister Adrien Sala next week.<\/p>\n
He said many restaurants have regular customers who will buy single take-out meals from them rather than the grocery store.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no consultation done on this, and the gaps are huge, they\u2019re massive,\u201d he said. \u201cThe restaurant industry, both full-service and quick-service, both rely on take-out services as part of their business.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exemption, as it stands now, will cost the province more overall, because the restaurant industry in Manitoba commits more money back into the economy than big-box grocery giants do, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s mind-blowing, is what it is, to make something like this and not take into consideration or factor in the fact that you\u2019re going to be robbing from Peter to pay Paul,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd from an industry that has struggled, that was closed during the pandemic, when grocery stores were opening, making record profits.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses launched an online petition Friday asking the province to expand the PST exemption\u2019s eligibility to include all food retailers, including small convenience stores and dine-in and take-out restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hear consistently that low demand is really limiting businesses\u2019 ability to grow and expand, so they\u2019re just not seeing the same sort of consumer spending that they\u2019re used to, and that\u2019s especially in retail and hospitality,\u201d said Brianna Solberg with the CFIB.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to be encouraging people to go out and support small local retailers and local restaurants, and not creating policies that will disincentivize this.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the exemptions have left even established local grocers scratching their heads as to whether they\u2019re considered eligible for the exemption.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Food Fare owner Munther Zeid said he\u2019s \u201cgetting a lot of mixed messages\u201d on how many of his stores are eligible and said it\u2019s possible he might have to include PST on items at some of his locations and not others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking at it as a small local grocer, (Kinew) should be promoting more of, \u2018Hey, go to the local stores \u2014 the big block stores, Safeway, Sobeys, Walmart, Costco, sorry, you\u2019re not included in this thing,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then at the same time, they\u2019re going to go, why would we invest in Manitoba if we\u2019re not going to be PST exempt, like the smaller guy? It\u2019s a double-sided sword. Damned if he does and if he doesn\u2019t. But, it (should be) either all or nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 with files from Gabrielle Pich\u00e9<\/p>\n
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Malak Abas Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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