Bill 71, The Education Property Tax Reduction Act, passed last week, and the province will be mailing rebate cheques sometime this summer.

PC Caucus Chair, and Riding Mountain MLA, Greg Nesbitt was pleased to see the legislation get approved.

“Now that it has passed, we’ll be able to send out cheques to business people, farmers and home owners.”

“This was a bill to implement the rebate program we had announced in the budget. The budget announced a 25 per cent rebate for farms and residential property off their school tax and 10 per cent for commercial. To make that happen we needed the legislation that allows us to do the rebates.”

Bill 71 allows the province to send out rebate cheques after people have paid their property taxes.

“A lot of property tax statement don’t go out until June or July so I would assume the rebate cheques will go out once people pay their taxes and cheques will end up going out later this summer.

Nesbitt says the latest move helps fulfill the government’s promise education will paid through general revenues which is the fair way.

“Some people were saying if we do this rebate it will be money out of education, and that simply isn’t true.