Mr. Speaker, nobody knows why. We asked that same question in committee. The secretary of state and his handlers who are supposed to support him and provide him with answers were unable to come up with a satisfactory answer. Why? Because there is no answer.
The only answer we can think of is that the very powerful lobbyists for the big breweries put pressure on the government to ensure that beer would not be included in the bill.
How can we explain that? It does not make any sense. Why has the government suddenly decided to exclude beer from a bill dealing with the more global issue of excise tax, which applies to all these products? How can it be explained beside the fact that lobbyists must have said, “No, do not touch that. We want the microbreweries to stay the way they are. Some could even close their doors. If only one or two of them remain, we do not care. For every share of the market we get—and we already control 90% of the market—it brings in $17 million more.”
I cannot see anything else but power and money in this situation. What I find most unfortunate is that the government had promised good things to these microbreweries and their managers who, through their energy and their leadership, wanted to put a quality product on the market, but the government now wants to crush them. The Minister of International Trade, the Minister of Finance and the current Minister of Justice had made promises to them, such as the ones that are made during election campaigns. These promises were selling all kinds of things. However, once the government is in office, it reneges on its promises.
This is a serious situation. Many breweries have disappeared. There were 13 in Ontario. Five are left. Where are all the government members who were elected in Ontario, in ridings where there are small breweries belonging to brave men and women who get up every morning to make a quality product and who dream of being competitive on the international market? With globalization—there is talk about it every day—our businesses must be competitive. Today, these members, these yes men, stay in their seats in support of their government, which is helping the big breweries.