Government Relations Report Ron Steeves First Vice-President On Sunday, April 30, Nova Scotia Premier and Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil called a provincial election for May 30. As with every provincial, territorial and federal election, the CSA composed an election handbook which featured the current provincial policy regarding a range of snowbird issues. These included time permitted outside of the province, reimbursement rates for emergency services received abroad and travel supply policy under the Nova Scotia Family and Seniors’ Pharmacare Programs. In addition, the election handbook also provided members with information about advance polls, the continuous poll, as well as the voteby-mail option for absent electors. The Nova Scotia election handbook was distributed to our members in Nova Scotia both electronically by e-mail and by direct mail. In the end, Nova Scotia voters gave Premier McNeil his secondmajority government. On behalf of the Canadian Snowbird Association, I would like to congratulate Premier McNeil on his victory and we look forward to working with him and his government on issues of importance to our Nova Scotia members. In the sixth edition of theCanadian Travellers’ Report Card, we recommended that Elections Nova Scotia produce a comprehensive brochure specifically designed for travellers, and that they make the brochure readily available to electors. We are pleased to announce that, for the May 30 general election, Elections Nova Scotia acted on our suggestion and produced a brochure for travelling Nova Scotians. The brochure highlights the options for casting a ballot if you are travelling on or before Election Day. As well, it guides the reader through the timeline regarding when the application and write-in ballot kit must be completed and received by Elections Nova Scotia. The brochure can be accessed online at electionsnovascotia.ca/travellers. We would like to thank the Chief Electoral Officer of Nova Scotia, Richard Temporale, for implementing our recommendation and for providing the voters of Nova Scotia with an important new resource. In the recent 2017 budget, the government of Saskatchewan announced that it was raising the rate of the provincial sales tax (PST) from five per cent to six per cent. In addition to this increase, the government also announced that it would be expanding the number of goods and services subject to PST, including travel medical insurance premiums (which were previously tax exempt). The effective date for the application of PST to insurance premiums is August 1, 2017. This change will make Saskatchewan the only jurisdiction in Canada which collects retail sales tax on travel medical insurance premiums and will increase the cost of travel insurance for Saskatchewan residents. The Canadian Snowbird Association (CSA) is firmly opposed to the planned application of PST to travel medical insurance premiums in the province. The CSA believes that travel medical insurance premiums should remain tax exempt in Saskatchewan, as they are in every other province and territory in the country. As you know, supplementary travel medical insurance is a necessity for those who travel outside of Canada, as the government of Saskatchewan only reimburses travellers a maximum of $100 per day for emergency in-patient hospital care received abroad. Recognizing the limited emergency medical care coverage outside of Canada, the government of Saskatchewan recommends that residents travelling outside of the country should obtain additional health insurance. Moreover, travel medical insurance coverage is generally purchased fromproviders located outside of the province and is purchased for emergency medical care which, if required, will be obtained outside of Saskatchewan. Some provinces in Canada, such as Manitoba, exempt travel medical insurance premiums from retail sales tax because health insurance covering the health-care costs of insured individuals is deemed a non-taxable insurance contract. Other provinces, such as Newfoundland and Labrador, exempt travel medical insurance premiums from retail sales tax because the insurance coverage relates to risk, peril or events outside of the province. With more than 5,000 CSA members in Saskatchewan, there is strength in numbers. This is why we are asking you to write or e-mail your local MLA, Premier Brad Wall (premier@gov.sk.ca) and the Minister of Finance Kevin Doherty (minister.fi@gov. sk.ca) requesting that the government of Saskatchewan exempt travel medical insurance premiums from the provincial sales tax. Contact information for SaskatchewanMLAs can be accessed online at www.legassembly. sk.ca/mlas. You may also find ourGuidelines to Writing Government Representatives useful when composing your e-mails and letters, which you can find at www.snowbirds.org. We kindly ask that members copy the CSA on the e-mails and letters that they send. We will keep members updated regarding our progress in Saskatchewan via e-mail, CSANews and www.snowbirds.org. If you have any questions related to this advocacy campaign, please do not hesitate to contact our office toll-free at 1-800-265-3200 or e-mail us at csastaff@snowbirds.org. Thank you for your participation in this initiative. CSANews | SUMMER 2017 | 11
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