B E E R C A N A DA
Freeze it
for Them
Businesses are calling on governments across
Canada to put a freeze on beer taxes
By Dana Miller, Beer Canada
The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it
even more difficult for bars and restaurants, tourism and
hospitality, and small businesses to keep their doors open.
Finding ways to provide financial relief and protect jobs will
be essential to Canada’s economic recovery. For Canadians, every
dollar kept in their pockets counts. For our workforce, every
job matters.
This is why hundreds of businesses across Canada’s
hospitality, tourism and agriculture sectors have joined together
to call on governments across Canada to put a freeze on beer
taxes. This will help stimulate economic recovery and protect the
149,000 Canadian jobs and thousands of businesses that depend
on beer sales.
Bars and restaurants rely heavily on beer sales, and raising
taxes only adds to the burden they face. To help the industry
recover, governments need to get creative in finding ways to
provide relief. Restaurants are not only the cornerstone of many
communities across Canada, they’re also closely tied to several
different areas within the economy – beer being one of them.
In the first wave of the pandemic, bar and restaurant beer
sales dropped by 90 per cent in many provinces and currently
remain 50 per cent below normal levels. With COVID-19’s second
Photos courtesy of Beer Canada
WINTER 2021 § POURED CANADA § 33