Yes. I understand that both the EU and the U.S. in particular, along with a couple of other countries, have made that statement, but to add a little weight to my colleague's comments, we're a highly leveraged industry. I grew up on a farm myself, and this is farming at its roots. It's value-added nonetheless, but we are asset rich, if you want to call it that, but cash poor.
Given that my businesses are leveraged, if the WTO infringement challenge resulted in the excise tax being applied against 100% Canadian wine, my bottom line would be cut in half. I would be breaching bank covenants immediately. I would be in serious turnaround mode to really correct my business from being in serious jeopardy.
Two of my three wineries are 100% Canadian, 100% Nova Scotia wine, but the largest of the three, which really helps fund the development of vineyards.... Vineyards have about a 10-year payback. It's not a really smart industry to be in for a lot of investors. We have a lot of patience; banks do not. At the end of the day, if our business model gets challenged to that degree, the whole game changes.
My largest winery is fifty per cent 100% Nova Scotian or Canadian, and the other 50% is actually the blends. This really keeps the lights going and keeps the overheads intact. For us to have an escalator against that excise on that part of the business with an indefinite period, the banks won't look at us very favourably going forward. So investment in the industry—not just from investors, but the actual ability to secure funding—would dry up.