Inside Politics

Recently by Pete Evans

Ottawa to refund Legion for HST on poppies

Tags: HST, poppy, remembrance day

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Defence Minister Peter MacKay will announce Thursday that the Royal Canadian Legion will get a refund for the HST it pays on poppies, the CBC has learned.

The move follows a similar announcement made earlier Wednesday by the Ontario government. Dwight Duncan, the provincial finance minister, announced they would refund the province's cut of tax revenues received from poppies

NDP MP Malcolm Allen first raised this issue when a veteran walked into his Welland constituency office in Ontario. The veteran complained the federal government charged GST for the production of poppies.

RCMP Commissioner Elliott's letter to staff

The CBC has obtained a the text of RCMP Commissioner William J.S. Elliott's letter to staff. We reprint it here, after the jump: