Changes to Saskatchewan’s provincial sales tax took effect over the weekend, meaning prices have increased on liquor, tobacco, restaurant meals and children’s clothing.
It appears the tax increase is hurting Premier Brad Wall’s approval rating in the province.
A new poll out on Monday morning conducted by Mainstreet-Postmedia claims Wall’s rating has dropped, following the release of the provincial budget in March.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan Budget 2017: sales tax increasing to deal with $685M deficit
According to the poll, Wall’s overall approval rating fell 6 points, from 52 to 46 per cent since last October.
“We‘re seeing very different results for the Saskatchewan NDP than we saw in the last election. The NDP now leads in both Regina and Saskatoon where the Saskatchewan Party is running second. But outside those two urban centres the Saskatchewan Party holds a dominant lead. Of course, an election isn’t being held anytime soon and we still don‘t know who will be leading the NDP into the next campaign – the numbers could increase, or decrease, once there is a new leader at the helm,” said David Valentin, Executive Vice-President of Mainstreet Research.
“Driving these numbers are the impact of the budget which has a net disapproval rating of -19 (approval-disapproval). Regina residents are the most likely to disapprove (57%) while Saskatoon residents are the most likely to approve (26%).”
The poll also shows that 66 per cent of Saskatchewan residents oppose the PST increase and 51 per cent disapprove the closure of the STC.
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