In 2006 the government adjusted excise and it told us in 2006 that it was going to be revenue neutral. Between 2006 and 2016, that 10-year period, excise on spirits went up almost 50%. Our business grew by 14%. Inflation grew by 17%. I have little confidence in the analysis that is being promulgated by the department. We looked at the wider picture, because it's not just excise. When excise goes on, as someone said, it has a cascading effect. The government makes five points on the GST on all of the excise changes, so it's a tax on a tax. When you factor all that in—and those are burdens on our business and our customers—it comes to a billion dollars. I'd be happy to provide the committee with a detailed analysis of that.
I have one more point on the trade file. Many members will recall that Commissioner Hogan, the agriculture commissioner from the EU, visited Canada last week with 160 people. A number of those people were spirits representatives from Europe for Scotch whisky, spirit syrup, and the Polish spirits association.
We and they met with Agriculture Canada. They met with Global Affairs. They made it very clear to the government that they would not sit still, that there would be trade repercussions if this went through and their taxes continued to go up while those of others didn't. That is going to be a critical issue going forward.