A national organization that represents eateries across the country is welcoming a move by the federal government that could bring thousands more into restaurant seats.

Ottawa plans to remove GST from things like groceries, toys and your bill at your favorite place to eat out.

Kris Barnier, Vice President at Restaurants Canada says it feels great to see this coming, especially after their industry was pushing all levels of government for some relief, after the pandemic.

“It was a really tough time for our industry and that’s continued in recent years. With this cut to the GST and the HST …this is going to put some more money back in people’s pockets and give them a little more flexibility and make restaurant meals and other things more affordable.”

Barnier adds, when you have an affordability crisis, the first thing people cut is restaurant and take-out spending so, this should mean a boost financially

“This is going to be a big help to our industry. We expect, for the average restaurant across Canada, it will probably mean about $5,000 to $10,000 in revenue. And for these restaurants that are barely breaking even, that’s really helpful and will have impact.”

Just in time for the holidays

The cut to the GST is going to kick in, in just a few weeks, when the country is knee-deep in the holiday season.

Barnier says this means it will happen at a really important time, especially as we get closer to the New Year.

“When you go into that last part of the holidays, you really [are] going to have a lot of people going out…whether it’s after work, with colleagues, work events, Christmas and other holiday celebrations. So, it really is fantastic to have that little push at the end of the year.”

A huge impact

There are hundreds of thousands of Canadians who will be affected by this move.

For instance, Barnier says, roughly 450,000 are working in the restaurant sector in Ontario, about 5.4 per cent of the workforce in New Brunswick and in Nova Scotia about 32,000.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

“There are so many other jobs that are dependent on our sector. It’s going to be everything from landlords, to cleaning staff, to farmers …and the grocers [who] deliver…all of those things.”

Barnier says, for every million dollars in spending in the restaurant industry, at least a dozen people are employed, triple the amount of a grocery store.

Hoping to cement it

The cut to GST is only temporary but Restaurants Canada will continue to move for measures that are more permanent.

In the meantime, Bernier says, they welcome it and are optimistic it will be helpful.

It kicks in December 14 and will last two months.