Ottawa—Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has uncorked a $165 million program to assist Canadian wineries to be innovative and competitive.
The program came as the federal government repealed the excise duty exemption on wine made of 100 per cent Canadian-grown fruit to conform to a July 2020 agreement with Australia resulting from that country’s trade challenge against Canada at the World Trade Organization. “For the last two years, we have supported efforts to find an effective solution that respects Canada’s global trade obligations without tipping the competitive balance in our sector,” he said. Canadian growers face a range of serious ongoing challenges and local farm families need help to sustain and grow the domestic industry.
There now are 183 Vintners Quality Alliance wineries in Ontario compared to 86 in 2006. Nationally, the sector includes 700 wineries and 37,000 jobs. About two thirds of the country’s sector is based in Ontario.