HST on Remembrance Day poppies will be refunded

TORONTO - Government sources say veterans' groups will receive a full tax refund for paying the HST on poppies for their annual Remembrance Day fundraising campaign.

Sources tell The Canadian Press that Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will make the announcement Thursday when he visits a legion hall.

The Ontario government vowed earlier today that it would refund the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax on poppies after the New Democrats raised the issue in the legislature.

The poppies are bought in Ontario by the Royal Canadian Legion and distributed to commands in other provinces.

Any donations received during the poppy campaign are used to help ex-service people.

Both Ontario and British Columbia implemented the HST on July 1, which increased the cost of many items that were previously exempt from the provincial levy.

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  Dominion President Wilf Edmond pins the symbolic first poppy of the 2008 National Poppy Campaign on Governor General and Patron of the Royal Canadian Legion Michaelle Jean during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct.23, 2008. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Adrian Wyld)