According to a Globe and Mail report this morning, the provincial government seems to have taken notice of the restaurant industry’s loud cry of FOUL! after Finance Minister Colin Hansen introduced his plan for a Harmonized Sales Tax last week, one that would impose a new 7% levy on all restaurant meals. The surprising announcement came after his party assured restaurant industry leaders that an HST was not in the offing should they be re-elected). Given their penchant for saying one thing and then doing another, I doubt I’m alone in thinking it’s dubious.  Read excerpts from the piece after the leap…

Faced with a fierce backlash over its announcement of a harmonized sales tax, the British Columbia government is looking to cushion the blow for the province’s restaurant industry, The Globe and Mail has learned.

Manufacturers and other businesses have applauded the tax, but restaurateurs – along with the real estate industry – have said the tax will hit their profits just as they are struggling to shake off the effects of the recession.

Finance Minister Colin Hansen has asked for proposals on how to ease the transition to the HST for the restaurant industry, following a snap session on Friday – the day after the surprise announcement that B.C. will be launching a harmonized sales tax on July 1, 2010 – involving the minister, members of the business community and Premier Gordon Campbell.

It’s not yet clear how much the province is willing to spend on assisting the restaurant industry, nor what form such assistance might take. But the industry says its aim in any discussions is to recoup the full amount that it believes the HST will cost its members in the first year: $500-million.

Kudos to the folks at the CRFA and the BCRFA for not sitting back and taking it like passive victims. Here’s to biting and kicking!