Agriculture committee  Yes. We don't support that either. First of all, we're very realistic. Resources are limited. If you're going to put $5 million or $10 million in tax relief on the table, let's also look at the opportunities that you're forgoing to support 100% Canadian wines and to do some of

Agriculture committee  I think it's important for our industry to support the growth of this 100% market, as Debbie noted. She quoted some economic impact numbers—that $39 a bottle. The economic impact study also said that number was for blended and 100% wines combined. For 100% wines, the number goes

Agriculture committee  I can take that. The barriers are pretty simple. For the most part, we're dealing with a singular retailer in each province. They have very significant markup structures. There's no markup relief for Canadian wines that are not produced within the home province of those liquor

Agriculture committee  That's great. With regard to your two questions, let me start with direct to consumer first, because I think that's a very quick question. We ship to consumers now, and any shipping company that our wineries work with have to see proof of age when they make deliveries to the p

Agriculture committee  Why don't I kick this off, Debbie? Let me start on the tourism aspect of things, and thank you very much for acknowledging the role that winery tourism and wine-country travel plays in generating tourism visits to our wine regions across this country. If you travel to Californ

Agriculture committee  Outside of Canada, I think the best target markets are in some of the biggest travelling countries, so Brazil, Mexico, and China, especially now that China's opened up to travel. It has made it a lot easier. Obviously, we market to the United States and to the U.K. Those are the

Agriculture committee  That was very good.

Agriculture committee  Yes, absolutely. China's been a place where particularly our ice wine products are very well regarded and sought after. So making that connection between the products and the experience has been very important and a lot of our wineries are gearing up to respond to that market, i

Agriculture committee  I know in the wine industry that every time we've seen transitions in packaging we're always at a disadvantage. For instance, in Ontario we've been asked by the LCBO to lightweight our packaging for health and safety reasons with their employees. The access to the domestic glass

Agriculture committee  I always do agree on things like this. I think the leadership the government can show is important, in particular in helping disparate ministries work together to support an initiative. I know in the grape and wine sector we come across so many ministries that we have to work wi

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My name is Hillary Dawson. I'm president of the Wine Council of Ontario. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak here today on behalf of our over 86 winery members from across this province. Our members are small and medium-sized enterpri

Agriculture committee  All right, thank you. This can and must be supported at both the federal and provincial level through Growing Forward 2 and its related programming. A third key avenue for premium VQA wines is direct sales to the trade. When given the opportunity to sell directly to the custome

Finance committee  I think it's not just “reasonable”; it's also how the transactions can happen, right? Let's find an environment where we can have some modern commercial relationships, 21st-century relationships, with our customer that, frankly, “personal transport” doesn't address. So yes, it

Finance committee  So it's a national effort. It's an ongoing effort on our part. We're hopeful that the liquor boards will be receptive, because it's not just the limit, it's how.

Finance committee  Also, it's complementary. Not only are our wineries trying to sell directly to the consumer, but we are trying to build that profile across Canada in liquor boards. It's a matter of capacity and how able you are in doing business with a liquor board versus doing piecemeal busines