Healthy food subsidy might be on table over gas tax cut: Kinew

Premier Wab Kinew says he is still considering relief for Manitobans struggling with the high price of fuel but it may not be in the form of a gas tax holiday.

Nearly a month after suggesting gas tax relief may be coming, Kinew told reporters Thursday that “giving people a subsidy to buy healthy food might be the more effective intervention.”

The premier said such a subsidy would be geared to income, targeting the most in need.

“We want our intervention to be well timed and to really help you with the cost of living. So, we’re still actively considering the gas tax situation in Manitoba to help you keep your life more affordable. At the same time, this is a situation where we’re going to be facing high gas prices for the rest of this calendar year and it might be leading to higher costs at the grocery store,” he said during a news conference.

The lowest gas price in Winnipeg as of 6 p.m. Thursday was $1.689 per litre although most prices appeared to be closer to $1.889, according to the tracker site gasbuddy.com.

Kinew said the challenge is not knowing what U.S. President Donald Trump and the Iranian regime will do about the conflict that’s blocking shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, driving up world oil prices and the cost of living.

“What is the best tool that we have to help? At this stage, I think we have to be nimble and respond to what is a unique and novel situation.”

The province could help Manitobans with affordability by reducing the gas tax — revenue that helps pay for health care and other essential services, and would be replaced with more borrowing.

The federal government’s 10-cent per litre fuel tax holiday that began April 20 hasn’t helped much, the premier said.

“The prices dropped for a day or two and then they were right back at the same level. I wouldn’t want us — knowing the financial cost of making an investment like this — to do the same thing,” Kinew said.

Tax relief is the easiest way to make life more affordable and Manitoba proved it in 2024 with its 14-cent per litre gas tax holiday, said Gage Haubrich of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“The premier knows and has said many times that his previous gas tax cut worked and made life more affordable,” Haubrich said. “Now is not the time for Kinew to reinvent the wheel and bring in new programs that require bureaucrats to run them and time to implement.”

The premier said the 2024 gas cut occurred under different circumstances.

“When we cut it the first time, we were responding to a period of high inflation that had persisted for a few years. We managed to bring inflation down in Manitoba. This situation is different. Different causes, similar pain point for you,” Kinew said.

The premier asked Manitobans to be patient, noting if the war heads into the summer, “I think we’re going to have to take additional time to figure out what is the best way to counter this.”

Critics of the gas tax holiday praised the premier for considering a healthy food subsidy.

Manitoba could lift 8,000 residents out of poverty if it built on the federal Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit and introduced a provincial sales tax credit targeting low- and modest-income households, said Molly McCracken of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Saskatchewan’s low-income tax credit, aligned with GST credit enhancements, provides singles with up to $750 more per year for groceries and essentials and more than $2,000 annually for a two-parent, two-child family, she said.

“If the province is serious about affordability, this is the kind of targeted, income-based support that can make a real difference.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca