Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all of our presenters today for your expertise and individual opinions and for wanting to come and share what Bill C-19 means to some of the stakeholders out there.
I'm going to start with Mr. Rooke.
Mr. Rooke, in my riding we have wineries, absolutely, but we also have cideries like Left Field Cider Company just outside Logan Lake, Dominion Cider, Millionaires' Row, Summerland Heritage Cider, and NOMAD Cider, and that's only in Summerland and Logan Lake. There are others.
I want to talk to you a little bit about the trade challenge that has been the reason the government says we have to make these amendments to the Excise Act, especially to the sections on wine.
My understanding is that the government completely capitulated to the Australians and didn't fight it in the WTO. That's where we are. Unfortunately for you, because your industry is defined under the Excise Act as being under wine, you were thrown in there indiscriminately.