Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of the Canadian Alliance member, I would like to ask him if he is aware of the fact that in five years, 38 out of 89 microbreweries have closed?
I would like to provide him with some figures. I remind him that in the United States, the tax is only 9 cents per litre of beer. Here, the tax is 28 cents per litre. The problem is as follows: foreign microbreweries even enter into Canada and are distributed by the large breweries, such as Labatt and Molson. This becomes unfair competition for our microbreweries.
The problem is not one that needs to be discussed. We have been negotiating since 1997 and we are fully apprised of the situation. We have lost 38 microbreweries out of 89. There are only 51 remaining. It is time to do something. It is time to accept an immediate amendment, to include beer and solve the problem of microbreweries immediately, rather than rushing this through.
As my colleague, the member for Kamouraska--Rivière-du-Loup--Témiscouata--Les Basques said, the problem is the following: we cannot wait. When will we be able to come back on this and solve the problem in the beer sector? We know that 38 microbreweries have already closed in the last five years. This is an urgent problem that needs to be solved.