Thank you very much.
Sorry?
Evidence of meeting #51 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was wineries.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #51 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was wineries.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:35 p.m.
President, Château des Charmes
Consumers in non-grape wine producing provinces and that jurisdiction would benefit from helping to build a national wine industry that all Canadians could be proud of. Americans are proud of their wine industry; the French are proud of theirs.
If national pride isn't a good enough reason to do it, I would suggest another. If I go down to Rue Saint-Denis in Montreal, get myself a nice sports jacket, pay for the jacket, and leave revenue and taxes in Quebec, how has Ontario benefitted from that transaction? If you applied that logic, you could shut down the tourism industry in this country. You couldn't travel through this country and not leave some money where you were visiting. Wine is no different.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
As you can see, none of us around this table want to shut down the tourism or wine industries for obvious reasons, because we all participate.
Do I have time?
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
I'll ask a very quick question. What general changes would be required to provincial legislation to allow wineries to sell and deliver their wine to an individual located in another province?
4:35 p.m.
Vintage Law Group, Winelaw.ca
Sure. It depends on the province. Some of the provinces have restricted provisions right now. As I mentioned earlier, Alberta's provincial laws right now say that a consumer in Alberta can import wine from another province. But there is a debate about whether they actually can do that or not, because the federal law contradicts that.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
Vintage Law Group, Winelaw.ca
Sure. It varies from province to province. Some provinces need do nothing. Some provinces would have to do something, and change their existing laws.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Thanks to all of you for attending.
Ms. George, it's good to see you in another capacity and using your talents in a worthwhile endeavour.
I come from the most southerly part of Canada. If anybody doesn't know where that is, that's Point Pelee, of course, and in that area we have a number of wineries. Now, they're not all in the riding that I represent, but we have Smith & Wilson. I see everybody nodding their heads. It has some pretty good wines.
I'm not a wine connoisseur, but I think I'm a typical Canadian who takes a glass of wine and says either “ugh” or “gee, this is really good”. That really is the market we're trying to sell to. Would you all agree?
4:35 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
It would be great if we all knew exactly the textures and all the other stuff that people talk about when they drink wine, but for the most part, most of us just want to enjoy something that tastes good.
There was a question I asked last week—I believe it was last week—when we had witnesses on this bill. I started out first of all with a statement saying that I was in Costco, and I think Ms. Zimmerman or somebody mentioned Costco. I'm telling you that Costco in the States had a better wine selection than the LCBO. Of course, that's in Ontario, and I can't speak for the rest of the provinces, but it was profound.
As we talk about this issue—and Ms. Zimmerman, you mentioned that you're somewhat protective of the grape growers and I'm not asking you a question at this point—I'd hate to see us get bogged down with that being the focal point. I would like to see our wine industry grow to the point where we would do basically what they're doing in the States. I know that we don't have their population, but we are, as I always tell people in our area, a day's drive from 200 million people, so we have this huge opportunity.
Maybe I could just go down the line very quickly and ask you if we are moving in that direction, because I have tasted some really good wines in this country. We had a display of Nova Scotia wines, for instance, and they were outstanding. I know that our wines are good. The B.C. guys will tell you theirs are, and Dean even seems to think that his wines are better than ours, so we know we really have some good wines. But will this move us in that direction, where we can really start to expand and get away from this trap that I think we get ourselves into as Canadians, in that we want to protect what we have rather than exploit what we have?
Ms. George, I'll start with you. What do you think?
4:40 p.m.
President, Alliance of Canadian Wine Consumers
Very briefly, this bill will allow small wineries to be more economically viable. That is the foundation for growth. It will encourage more businesses and encourage more people to get into the winery business, to grow grapes or to produce wines. In order to get the big guys that can sell internationally, you need to have a lot of little guys, so this bill is a step in that direction.
4:40 p.m.
Executive Director, British Columbia Wine Institute
I would agree. Clearly, the answer would be yes. That's what we in B.C. see as the opportunity in this bill. It's access to market and access to consumers, and that being here at home in Canada.
4:40 p.m.
President, Château des Charmes
The Canadian wine industry already exports its wine to the tune of more than $20 million a year, and this figure—
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Can I interrupt just for a second and ask you something? Because we talked about—
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Very quickly, if somebody said that 70% of the wine we sell is foreign—
