Agriculture committee  Yes, perfect. That's it exactly.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely: why not?

Agriculture committee  We are open to that. The competition between craft brewers doesn't come from other Canadian craft brewers. It comes from foreign product importations.

Agriculture committee  Our own government in Quebec simply needs to be more open to the idea. We're trying to explain to them that we have absolutely no concerns in regard to seeing beer from other provinces come into Quebec. That's not an issue at all. I feel like giving you again a personal example

Agriculture committee  In addition, foreign multinationals are in a better position than we are. They keep putting obstacles in our way and competing with us. Ten years ago, our shares of the market were so insignificant that the large foreign breweries paid us no heed at all. Today, they are seeing th

Agriculture committee  You are right. We are in the same situation in Quebec. Let me tell you about something that happened to me. A few years ago, my company wanted to take part in the Ottawa Wine and Food Festival. It took us almost four months of work and cost us $2,500 to bring 12 small kegs of

Agriculture committee  According to the Loi sur la Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, in Quebec, a microbrewer is a brewer that produces less than 300,000 hectolitres of beer a year. A large brewer produces over 300,000.

Agriculture committee  Currently, in Quebec, microbreweries have only 7.1% of the market. If we were on a level playing field and we had the same access to the shelves and tap lines as the large breweries, that market share would be between 12% and 15%. A market share like that would mean thousands of

Agriculture committee  To my knowledge, no Quebec microbreweries own an Ontario-based production facility. The advantages are so great that some of us are seriously considering it, including me and my own company. We're based in Gatineau, across the river, and it would be relatively simple for us to es

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  Okay.

Agriculture committee  I would agree.

Agriculture committee  Yes, most microbreweries have what we call “un magasin à l'usine” or factory outlet.

Agriculture committee  Yes, our main challenge is to have access to the tap lines in the bars and to the shelves in the grocery stores, because unfortunately most large multinational brewers negotiate exclusivities with the retail space owners. It's illegal, officially speaking, but it's simply tolerat

Agriculture committee  Yes.