Trudeau plays Santa with seasonal tax break

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is playing Father Christmas with a seasonally-timed tax break amid growing frustrations about Canada's cost of living.

The prime minister announced Thursday a two-month limited-time break on sales tax on a set list of goods during the holiday season.

The list includes Christmas trees, restaurant meals, toys, alcohol and sweets, among other things.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre - who will face off against the Liberal prime minister in a looming election - called Trudeau's tax measures "a trick" aimed at deflecting attention from the government's role in rising costs.

"For two months, Canadians are going to get a real break on everything they do," Trudeau said during a press conference.

"Our government can't set prices at the checkout but we can put more money in peoples' pockets. That's going to give people the relief they need. People are squeezed and we're there to help."

Canadian inflation peaked at 8.1% in 2022, according to Statistics Canada, and has declined since to 2% this November. But the added costs on everything from rent to groceries have hit many Canadians' wallets.

Last spring, a Statistics Canada survey found that 45% of Canadians said rising prices have made it difficult for them to meet their day-to-day expenses.

Trudeau's limited tax relief, if approved by parliament, would run from 15 December to 15 February. It would remove the federal sales tax known as GST - or the harmonised sales tax (HST) in provinces that combine federal and provincial sales taxes into one tax - from a select list of items.

Those items include:

• Food and beverages that are normally not tax-exempt, such as prepared foods, sweets, alcohol and sodas
• Children's toys for under-14s

The government estimated that the relief will save Canadians C$100-$260 (£56.86-£147.82) if they spend C$2,000 (£1,137.10) over this time period.

But those holiday savings will cost the treasury an estimated $1.6bn, a finance official told CBC news.

Trudeau is facing an uphill battle as the October 2025 election looms. A November poll by Leger shows Trudeau trailing his top rival, Poilievre, by 16 points. And more than two-thirds of Canadians in the same poll said they were dissatisfied with his government.

In September, Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) ended its two-and-a-half-year-old agreement with his Liberal Party that had helped keep his minority government in power.

The move does not mean that an election will automatically be called, but it does make it possible that there could be an election before schedule, in autumn 2025.

Trudeau has already survived two no-confidence votes in Parliament since September.