Effective July 1, 2026, the Government of Manitoba will eliminate the PST on all remaining taxable food and beverage items sold in grocery stores. Currently, PST is applied to prepared foods, beverages, and snack items, but under the new measure, these items will become tax-exempt.
The move heightens competition between retailers and restaurants, offering a clear advantage to stores by lowering prices on comparable goods for consumers. Restaurants Canada is calling on the Manitoba government to amend its PST exemption, expressing that this step ‘creates an arbitrary distinction between identical products based solely on where they are purchased, exempting prepared food from some sellers while taxing it from others.’
Previously, a temporary federal GST break was granted on select items, including food, and it ran from Dec. 14, 2024, to Feb. 15, 2025, offering some relief to businesses and consumers.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said that the policy is designed to help those most affected by rising living costs. “We love the restaurant industry; they do great work,” Kinew said at a recent press conference. “A lot of low-income Manitobans can’t go out to eat, but they are still going to go to the store.”
“Saving money for your family on all food and drinks from the grocery store, that’s a way to help everybody,” he said. “That’s a way that we can make sure we are helping with the cost of living and helping with fairness.”
Restaurants play a key economic role in Manitoba, generating approximately $3.5 billion in annual sales and employing more than 42,000 people.
“This is not just a technical gap in policy, it is a fundamental fairness issue,” said Tyler Slobogian, senior policy analyst for both the Prairies and Northern Canada at the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) in a statement. “By limiting the exemption to larger grocery stores, the government is effectively picking winners and losers in the food sector. Some small retailers and restaurants are being put at a clear and avoidable disadvantage.”
By excluding restaurants, the policy risks limiting choice for consumers, rather than expanding affordability. Restaurants Canada is calling on the Manitoba government to amend its PST exemption plan to include restaurant meals, preserve consumer choice, and protect jobs across the province.
“This approach misses the mark on affordability and economic policy,” said Kelly Higginson , President and CEO of Restaurants Canada, agrees. “Manitobans should not have to change where they buy their meals to access relief. Food is food, and tax policy should treat it that way.”
