Finance committee  I would have to double-check and confirm that, but my understanding is that the cost of the excise duty is borne at the time the fruit is converted into the alcohol process. If you're purchasing apples from abroad or whatnot, you still have to pay the tax—the duty portion—when yo

Finance committee  The large consequences we're seeing are, again, based on the ability of an organization to continue to operate and produce product, because the margins are already so small. These are, again, small farmers adding this as an opportunity to use apples they have on their lands, and

Finance committee  I can't say that I have any knowledge of the topic or had any discussion around that at all.

Finance committee  That process would allow us to be able to get to a point where we could, if a producers' program were put into place, when funds start to come back, to reduce that gap and really help with cash flow and the hardship overall.

Finance committee  I wouldn't be able to give you a specific number, but I think what we've been talking about is that if Canadian producers want to stick with Canadian products, those prices are rising so quickly and with so much competition that they're not going to be able to be financially viab

Finance committee  Typically, it does, yes.

Finance committee  That is correct. When you add on the provincial taxation, it adds more to it because there's tax on tax.

Finance committee  Yes, we were. Because cider has grown so quickly in the last 10 to 15 years, there was never that original thought that cider was separate. It is separate in most other countries because it is large enough to be separated out. We were under wine. As a result, because of those cha

Finance committee  It's been a challenge to get the word out because, again, it's very new and often involves very small organizations. We're concerned that maybe half of the cider producers don't know that the excise duty is coming into play. They don't know that they have this new tax they are go

Finance committee  Yes, that is correct. Cider is currently classified under wine by the government. It's produced in a similar fashion with fresh fruit as opposed to beer, which is with barley. It is one of the areas we are interested in exploring in order to work with the government to separate

Finance committee  Yes, I think it would make a lot of sense to classify cider individually or separately from wine. It is growing and has the potential to become a much larger industry overall. We were talking about how around two to four per cent of total alcohol consumed would be cider, and that

Finance committee  Thank you for having me present to the committee today. My name is Barry Rooke. I'm the executive director of the new national cider association, Cider Canada/Cidre Canada. We support 370 licensed cider makers across the country and just reached our first year as a non-profit l