C A N A D I A N V I N T N E R S ASS O C I AT I O N
Season of Change
A federal election and a rebranding
effort will shake up Canada’s wine
industry this fall
By Asha Hingorani, Canadian Vintners Association
Expect lots of change in fall 2019, come late October Cana-dians
will welcome new members of Parliament and pos-sibly
a new Prime Minister to lead the country. For a
national association, this is a time of change, renewal and a
time for the industry to recharge and refocus on industry and
government priorities.
In the dead of summer, prior to a federal election call, the
Standing Committee on Finance launched its pre-budget consulta-tions
in preparation for the 2020 federal budget. Canadian Vintners
Association (CVA) proposed two recommendations to the com-mittee
to consider for the next federal budget.
CVA’s proposal included, first, that the federal government
amend the Excise Tax Act to eliminate the annual inflation index-ation
of the excise duty on wine to ensure that any future excise
rate changes are included in the budget implementation bill and
subject to a vote by Parliamentarians. Second, that the federal gov-ernment
provide a permanent annual investment of $10 million
to support the promotion of Canadian wines across Canada and
an annual increase of two per cent as an index to protect the fund
against inflation.
While not included in our 2020 pre-budget ask, direct-to-consumer
(DTC) delivery continues to remain a high priority for
every winery in Canada. At the federal level we have achieved suc-cess
in the 2019 federal budget, which amended the Importation
of Intoxicating Liquors Act (IILA), removing any remaining federal
constraints to interprovincial shipments of alcohol across provin-cial
borders, and removing the federal requirement that alcohol
moving from one province to another must enter through a pro-vincial
liquor board.
In effect, the federal government has removed a major obsta-cle
to interprovincial trade and the ball is now in the court of pro-vincial
governments. Using the federal government as an excuse
for inaction can no longer be used by Ontario Premier Ford, Alberta
Premier Kenney, Saskatchewan Premier Moe or Quebec Premier
Legault. The time has come for provincial action and to adopt leg-islation
and/or regulations
to support DTC in its real
sense; by allowing couri-ers
to deliver wine directly
from an out of province
winery. CVA will continue
to work side-by-side with
the regional wine associa-tions
in Ontario, Quebec,
Nova Scotia and British Columbia, to help make the case for DTC
to provincial governments across Canada.
Progress on DTC has been slow, but significant. In a
May 2019 meeting, internal trade ministers released Federal-
Provincial-Territorial Action Plan: Trade in Alcoholic Beverages.
The Action Plan included a number of planned initiatives on
moving forward with the trade of alcoholic beverages includ-ing
improving existing, and considering new, sales channels.
As well, ministers agreed that the federal, provincial and ter-ritorial
governments will maintain a working group for trade
in alcoholic beverages and create a new working group which
will begin to address the technical feasibility of DTC delivery in
fall 2019.
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