International Trade committee  First of all, beverage alcohol, no matter whether it's beer, wine, or spirits, is a global industry. Canada is part of that global industry and has a proud history of being one of the dominant manufacturers and suppliers and developers. As Canada is celebrating its 150th annivers

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm the president and CEO of Spirits Canada. Joining me today to answer any questions you may have is my colleague, C.J. Helie, our executive vice-president. The Canadian spirits industry produces amongst the highest value-added processed agri

Finance committee  It's an absolutely fair assessment that it will have a similar effect. No one can know for sure, and no one can even guess, because there is no analysis. Finance didn't do any work. They haven't done any work. There's no information forthcoming about what this means. As I said, b

Finance committee  We'll provide that to you.

Finance committee  Fermented.

Finance committee  Let me start. We all are industries that actively promote, and work very hard to promote, responsible consumption of our products. Generally speaking, the majority of people who use them in this country do so. That notwithstanding, Canada has evolved a lengthy series of policies

Finance committee  If I can offer a bit of clarification, the Department of Finance says it's 2% across the board and they want to be fair to everybody. The fact is, it's not 2% across the board, because they've also applied it to whisky sitting in the barrels that was made prior to 2006. On all of

Finance committee  Historically, excise is a production tax. When it comes off the still, it's liable to pay the tax. In 2006, when the new rates were put in by the government at that time, it was for everything produced after July 1, 2006. Everything produced before that was already produced, so i

Finance committee  In 2006 the budget came out in March or April, and the date established for the new rate was July 1. This one happened the day after the budget and, as I said, reached back to a product that was already distilled and produced.

Finance committee  Not in any modern, westernized economies that have a viable beverage alcohol business.

Finance committee  There's no question that Canada is a complex market, and there are many, many rules around our different businesses that add to the cost of doing business. The one thing I would mention to the committee to keep in mind is that Canada, before all of this happened, already had the

Finance committee  Yes, it's a production tax. As soon as the alcohol comes off a still, it's liable for tax. It goes into bond, because, as one of my colleagues was saying, some of our businesses are kind of crazy. We're mostly in the whiskey business and you have to age whiskey in Canada. The l

Finance committee  Excise is paid. It goes into bond. It's held in bond and you can't do anything with it. Excise is paid when it comes out of bond. As it comes out of the warehouse, out of the barrel for blending and packaging, excise is paid at that point. The producer has seen no revenue but h

Finance committee  This is going to make it even more difficult. As people have alluded to, we're facing a series of challenges on the trade front and on the internal agreement. As you said, alcohol is left out. We're seeing an increasing balkanization of the country. You have to remember that, as

Finance committee  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