International Trade committee  The consultation process was robust. Knowing that this was going to touch virtually every Canadian brewer across the country—and in particular a lot of small brewers who package only in cans—we took an approach really to get brewers to engage directly with the government through

International Trade committee  The distance between the time that the countermeasure tariffs came in and the time that there was relief.... There was a remission process put in place almost immediately, and an application process was made available to us. On October 11, the countermeasure tariffs were essentia

International Trade committee  Right.

International Trade committee  You can absolutely get aluminum for beer cans here as well, and we do ship aluminum sheet metal into the United States. It gets hit with the tariff and then we process it into cans in the U.S. and then it comes into Canada. With the countermeasure tariff that was on, we were actu

International Trade committee  I'm not sure.

International Trade committee  To kind of describe it a little bit, you have the cost of aluminum that a brewer would pay the can manufacturer, and then inside that, one of the lines is this Midwest premium they have to pay. That is supposed to be for the cost of storage and transportation. As I mentioned in

International Trade committee  The starting point for brewers in this country in terms of tax is egregious. Half the price of beer is already tax. Most of that comes at the provincial level, but yes, the federal government in 2017 has piled on not just one increase but an annual increase that will take place a

International Trade committee  I'm not an aluminum expert. I do know there's a lot of innovation that goes into that can. It's quite surprising how they can manufacture it so thin and so light but still able to contain a product that's under pressure and still be safe for delivery, bouncing around in trucks. T

International Trade committee  Yes, it's all end-users.

International Trade committee  It'll be the pizza guys later.

International Trade committee  Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to contribute to your study on the impact of tariffs on Canadian businesses, companies and workers. To that list, I would also add Canada's 10 million beer drinkers. Beer Canada is the national voice of the

Finance committee  The investment trends right now are really good. Between Molson and Labatt, my two largest members, you're talking $1.5 billion that's going to be invested in Canada between now and 2022. Molson itself has two greenfield operations opening up. My point is not that the government

Finance committee  Thank you. My comments will be very brief and reflect what's in the formal submission. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for the invitation to appear here today. In 2017, the domestic brewing industry employed 14,800 Canadians and paid $1 billion in wages.

Finance committee  Absolutely that's correct. I even say that coffee and tea, with Starbucks and Davids Tea, are in competition for the pocketbooks of Canadians. It is a trend in the United States, and it's a trend here.

Finance committee  Absolutely. I think the point that I would like to make is that we're ready and willing to compete. It's just the level of taxation, and that going up and increasing every year isn't putting us on any stronger footing than if we had a more balanced approach.