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"PLAY
FAIR MR. MARTIN" SAY SCHOOL BOARDS ON GST CHANGES
CANADIAN SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
MEDIA RELEASE
March 19, 2002
(OTTAWA) - The Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA) today called on Finance Minister Paul Martin to drop his proposal to retroactively change the GST laws and deny school boards their legitimate claims. "Mr. Martin's changes to the GST would fly in the face of a Federal Court ruling," explained CSBA President Gary Shaddock. "The Court upheld school board claims but, instead of appealing, Mr. Martin plans to change the law retroactively to 1991. Government policies shouldn't overrule courts of law - it goes against all the democratic principles we try to teach our children." In October 2001, the Federal Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that, in the test case before them, school boards could claim 100% of input tax credits for providing student transportation. School boards had been receiving 68% of input tax credits prior to the decision. The test case covered a four-year period of claims by 29 Quebec school boards. "The total financial impact for the federal government isn't huge," said Mr. Shaddock. "But in this era of shrinking education dollars, the impact for boards is significant." Other boards in Quebec and across Canada suspended proceedings for their cases in anticipation of the test case decision. This move was to save all - including the federal government - from unnecessary expenses. Martin's proposal will penalize them by robbing those boards of their rightful claims. The Canadian School Boards Association is the national voice of school
boards. It comprises nine provincial school board associations representing
over 400 school boards and serving more than four million elementary and
secondary school students.
- 30 - For information:
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