I am putting this here because it will get political.
https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2025/01/restaurants-see-boost-in-dining-and-traffic-in-first-month-of-gst-and-hst-holiday/
"Restaurants have seen a boost in dining and traffic over the past month coinciding with the GST and HST holiday, according to new data by Restaurants Canada and OpenTable.
From December 14 to 27, data from OpenTable, a global leader in restaurant tech, shows an 18 per cent increase in dining compared to the corresponding period in 2023. Ontario saw a 23 per cent increase year-over-year, while Atlantic provinces (NB, NL, NS, PE) saw an increase of 8 per cent year-over-year, said the organization in a news release on Friday.
It said this aligns with new data from Restaurants Canada’s REACT Survey, which noted a 7-point increase between December 2024 (92.1) and December 2023 (85.1) to its Consumer Dining Index. The Consumer Dining Index is calculated as a weighted average of the number of times Canadians purchased a meal or snack from a restaurant in the past month, indexed to July 2023. The December 2024 index also captures the two weeks before the tax holiday."