Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank the member for Huron—Bruce for bringing the bill before us. The bill supports small distilleries and small businesses across Canada, and as such, I am happy to support it at this stage. However, I think it could be improved.
As my colleague from Cowichan—Malahat—Langford said, this is not a bill about international trade; it is a bill about increasing Canadian distilleries' share of this market. It is certainly not a bill that touches at all on middle-class tax breaks.
The craft distillery industry is booming in Canada. Four years ago, there were only nine distilleries of any size in British Columbia. There are now 34 craft distilleries there, small distilleries, and there will be 44 by next year. They are springing up in my riding. My old doctor's office in Naramata is now a craft distillery. I will not go on to try to relate that to the health care situation in Canada, but it just shows the growth of this industry, both locally in my riding and across the country.
These businesses are creating good jobs, providing high-quality products, and diversifying the economy of many small communities across the country, and we should do whatever we reasonably can to support them.
In my riding, two of the important primary economic drivers are agriculture and tourism, and increasingly, the real growth in the regional economy is at the intersection of those two sectors.
The obvious example is the phenomenal expansion of the estate winery sector in British Columbia and in other parts of Canada. In the south Okanagan, wineries have really boosted both the agricultural sector, through good markets for grapes and good prices for farmers, and the tourism sector, filling in the spring and fall shoulder seasons with thousands of visitors tasting at wineries.
Distilleries have begun to provide the same benefits locally. As I said, a few years ago, there was only one distillery in my riding. There are now five, and more are planned. These are true craft distilleries. Under B.C. regulations, they are restricted to 50,000 litres of alcohol production per year, and they must use B.C. agricultural products to make that alcohol.
These regulations differ across the country. In Nova Scotia, I believe craft distilleries are restricted to 75,000 litres per year, and I think it is 100,000 litres in Ontario. From what I understand, neither of these provinces require that distilleries use Canadian grains to produce that alcohol. Some distilleries simply import raw alcohol to produce their spirits. However, in my riding, and throughout British Columbia, craft distilleries are required to use local products, and for a good reason. They create jobs in our country and produce spirits that are truly local in origin.
Okanagan distillers use Okanagan grains to make alcohol and often use Okanagan fruit to flavour specialty liqueurs. One of the oldest distilleries in my riding, Maple Leaf Spirits, in Penticton, uses apricots from literally the orchard next door, right across the fence, to make one of its liqueurs. This is precisely what brings visitors to these craft distilleries. They want to taste and purchase products that are carefully made, literally handmade, and unique to our region.
Like the member for Winnipeg North, I do not indulge in spirits that often, but I do like to have a cold gin and tonic on some of the hot Okanagan days in summer. This summer I had a friend come up from Vancouver to stay with us in the Okanagan. She was taking advantage, as many visitors do, of the warm lakes and fine wines of the region. She often brings a selection of wines with her, and we enjoy the summer evenings tasting the new vintages, but this time, she arrived with four different gins, including one from a distiller in my neighbourhood, the Dubh Glas Distillery, in Oliver. We did a blind taste test, and I was surprised by the variation. I had always thought that a gin was a gin was a gin and that it did not really matter what we mixed in with our tonic. Happily, I found out that the locally produced gin was far superior in taste, in my opinion, to the others.
It is this superior quality and unique flavour that is driving the growth in the craft distilling industry. It is the same process that has driven growth in the local wine industry. We have helped out that industry with various incentives, and our efforts have paid off handsomely, with a vibrant wine industry in several parts of the country.
One of the things we did to help small Canadian wineries was eliminate the excise tax on wines that use Canadian grapes. This helped them compete with imported wine. We should do the same for craft distilleries.
This legislation, which would lower the excise tax to $6 per litre, is okay as a first step, but we should really provide incentives for the small distilleries that are producing excellent, truly handcrafted products. They distill their own raw alcohol using Canadian grains and therefore contribute to the Canadian economy both in the agricultural sector and the tourism sector.
We should match the tax breaks we gave wineries by having an excise tax exemption for craft distilleries that produce less than 50,000 litres of alcohol per year and produce it from Canadian products.
I am happy to support the bill at this stage. We should provide all the reasonable assistance we can for this thriving industry, assistance that will help small businesses and farms across the country. However, I hope it can be amended at committee to really stimulate the growth of truly excellent craft distilling.
Cheers.
