Teams to pay a price: Hudak

Brendan Wedley
Peterborough Examiner

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak stood outside the Kinsmen Civic Centre yesterday to attack the planned harmonized sales tax as a “tax grab” that will increase recreation costs.

Hudak and Durham Progressive Conservative MPP John O’Toole pointed out the merger of the federal goods and services tax with the provincial retail sales tax will add the 8% PST to a range of items that previously weren’t taxed by the provincial government.

It’s going to cost more to buy gas, heat a home and pay for Internet service, Hudak said.

“Heck, it will even cost you more to get your double-double and your muffin from Tim Hortons in the morning,” he said. “And you know a tax hike on Tim Hortons coffee is bad enough, but a tax hike on the cost of playing hockey is bordering on un- Canadian.”

With the harmonized sales tax (HST), many minor leagues and senior leagues will pay 13% tax instead of the current 5% tax on recreational facility rental fees, O’Toole said.

“This to me represents a tax on recreation which is something I think all of us should be opposed to for sure,” he said. “Whether it’s figure skating or minor hockey, these are things that are part of our culture and they’re going to cost more, unfortunately.”

O’Toole said a minor league hockey association in Peterborough with 600 players would likely see an $8,000 increase in the amount of taxes it pays for ice time for a season.

Peterborough Liberal MPP Jeff Leal toldThe Examinerthat the provincial government has implemented an Ontario Child Benefit, will provide a credit to offset the single sales tax and there will be permanent income tax cuts for low-and middle-income people.

“We’ve got to remind ourselves that the single sales tax is just one part of a comprehensive tax overhaul in the province,” he said.

City council discussed how the tax will affect city user fees when staff presented a report at a committee meeting on Monday.

Council heard the HST wouldn’t be applied to user fees, such as skating lesson rates or rental rates for arenas and fields, for programs for children 14 years old or younger.

Gary Holbrook is the president of the Peterborough Baseball Association, which runs leagues for players five to 18 years old.

The association hasn’t discussed the potential impact of HST, Holbrook said.

“Any costs are going to hurt if it’s an increase to the kids,” he said. “We haven’t raised our fees in minor baseball for about four years now.”

Holbrook said the association pays more than $4,000 for field rentals, or about $4,500 including tax. Player fees are between $60 and $120, depending on the age group, he said.

With HST the cost to rent a premier sports field in the city will increase to $30.70 per hour from $28.43 per hour for adults, city community services director Ken Doherty said.

The adult rental fee for arenas will increase to $183.60 per hour from $170 per hour, he said.

Increasing the tax on facility rental fees won’t have a major impact on the Kinsmen Minor Football League, which pays less than $1,000 to use fields, said Anthony Berardi, the league treasurer.

“We purchase a fair amount of equipment each year that will have PST added on to it,” he said, adding the league spends $12,000 to $15,000 a year on equipment. “We may have to increase our registration fees to compensate for that.”

Hudak was part of the Mike Harris-Ernie Eves government that closed school gyms to the public on weekends, something the current Liberal government reinstated to open schools to communities, Leal said.

“He was part of a government that so vilified the teaching profession in the province of Ontario that they withdrew extracurricular activities and that included teaching children in a wide variety of sports,” Leal said.

Hudak, responding to a question from the media, wouldn’t say if a Progressive Conservative government would repeal the HST.

“We need to see exactly what kind of deal this ends up to be,” he said. “I’m not giving an inch on this. I’m going to fight this every step of the way…. In a Tim Hudak government, post 2011, we will have lower taxes than a Dalton McGuinty government.”