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Toronto Star
12 hours ago
- Business
- Toronto Star
Ontario may soon allow direct-to-consumer wine imports from other provinces. Will high taxes kill the program?
For small Canadian wineries, the removal of trade barriers between the provinces — meant to boost Canadian industry in the face of Trump tariffs — could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reach customers from coast to coast. But for one B.C. winery, the barrier went up again almost as soon as it came down. The Alberta government, which in January announced a promising direct-to-consumer wine program with B.C., announced in March that it was introducing a three-tiered tax on wine, including B.C. imports. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The new tax adds five per cent to the price of wholesale wine ranging from $15 to $20 per litre, 10 per cent for wines ranging from $20 to $25 a litre and 15 per cent for wine priced at $25 and up. The new tax is being applied on top of a $3 levy that was already in place on any 750 ml bottles of wine sold in Alberta. The result is that a premium bottle of wine 'ends up being just ridiculous — prohibitively expensive,' said Mireille Sauvé, the general manager and winemaker at B.C.'s Lakeboat Vineyard and Winery in the heart of Okanagan Valley, which opted into the direct-to-consumer program, but has now stopped exporting wine to Alberta. Sauvé, who became Canada's youngest sommelier when she was certified in 1997 and the first female sommelier in B.C., said her winery produces about 2,000 bottles a year that it sells primarily to private liquor stores and restaurants in the province. 'I think that Ontario, Nova Scotia, and B.C., we all have really fantastic wine industries that we don't get to see. And I feel like that's absolutely tragic,' said Sauvé. 'And the fact that it's significantly easier for us to get Italian wine, French wine, South African wine, than it is for us get wine from our own country — a travesty.' It's been two years since a national model for direct-to-consumer wine sales was agreed to by the federal, provincial and territorial governments, said Dan Paszkowski, president and chief executive officer of Wine Growers of Canada. But the plan is only moving forward now because of an unprecedented push to remove trade barriers in the face of hostile U.S. tariffs. 'On a reciprocal basis, the provinces are starting to engage in discussions,' said Paszkowski. 'And the fundamental part about this is what level of tax are you going to apply to wine that goes through the direct consumer delivery channel.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW His organization is advocating for a nominal levy to cover regulatory costs, such as tracking every bottle of wine that enters a province — but not a tax that will price the wine out of the market. In reference to Alberta, Paszkowski said, 'you've taken away an internal barrier to trade and you put in place an internal tax barrier.' Provinces incur little cost with direct-to-consumer sales, said Paszkowski. Wineries take the orders, collect the taxes, package the wine and ship it to the customer. Unlike the LCBO, which he said has a more than 70 per cent markup on wine, provinces have 'no warehousing cost. There's no retail operating cost, no staffing, no marketing,' he said. Wine for private consumption was allowed to cross provincial borders as early as 2013, thanks to the passing of the Inter-Provincial Importation of Wine, Beer and Spirits Act. But Paszkowski said only Manitoba, B.C. and Nova Scotia set up programs and interprovincial imports weren't taxed. Ontario has recently signed a number of non-binding agreements, called Memorandums of Understanding, to explore direct-to-consumer alcohol sales with other provinces, including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba. When asked if Ontario would tax wine imports similar to the Alberta model, the province said that it 'is currently in the design stage and further details will be available as the framework is finalized,' according to an email from Scott Blodgett, a senior media relations adviser in the Communications Services Branch. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ' Ontario is committed to establishing a DTC sales model, for personal consumption, that ensures fairness and competitiveness for Ontario producers,' said Blodgett, noting the program 'would open new domestic markets for local alcohol producers, which will stimulate economic growth, and create the conditions for increasing consumer choice and convenience.' Four million people visit Canadian wineries each year, said Paszkowski. For many small wineries, whose wine isn't in liquor stores because they don't produce enough volume or can't make enough of a profit, sales depend in part on how many people drive down their gravel roads to visit. 'If we had direct consumer delivery, possibly all the wine that they sell could enter into that channel,' said Paszkowski. Sauvé said Lakeboat has only ever sold to Alberta customers through direct-to-consumer channels, which she said is common for B.C. wineries, because Alberta requires that all wine be centrally stored at its Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis warehouse in Edmonton. And that requirement can result in excessive shipping costs for B.C. wineries that are far away. Sauvé also said that AGLC's warehouse costs are the highest in the country. When Alberta introduced its direct to consumer model, charging a flat tax of $3 a litre, Paszkowski was 'touting it as the best model ever put forward in Canada. 'Then they put another level of tax on top of it and it kills the market.'
Global News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Global News
Canada election 2025: LaSalle-Émard-Verdun
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook LaSalle-Émard-Verdun is a federal riding located in Quebec. This riding is currently represented by Bloc Québécois MP Louis-Philippe Sauvé who first took office in 2024. Sauvé collected 8,925 votes, winning 28.2 per cent of the vote in a 2024 federal by-election. Voters will decide who will represent LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in Quebec during the upcoming Canadian election on April 28, 2025. Visit this page on election night for a complete breakdown of up to the minute results. Candidates Bloc Québécois: Louis-Philippe Sauvé (Incumbent) Liberal: Claude Guay Conservative: Zsolt Fischer NDP: Craig Sauvé Green: Bisma Ansari Marxist-Leninist: Normand Chouinard Rhinoceros: Frédéric Dénommé Centrist Party: Fang Hu Communist: Manuel Johnson People's Party: Gregory Yablunovsky
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Venezuelan immigrant detained in Detroit by border agents tried to take his life
An immigrant from Venezuela tried to take his life by hanging himself while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last month, an official and advocates said this week. The incident, which took place in the second week of March, illustrates what immigrant advocates say are poor conditions that detainees in the custody of federal immigration agencies in Detroit are facing as the U.S. toughens immigration enforcement. Advocates are concerned that immigrants are disappearing into a system where they lack access to counsel. In many cases, the detentions are happening after immigrants accidentally take the wrong lane onto the bridge or tunnel that leads to Canada. More: Activists say southeast Michigan police raids are targeting pro-Palestinian protesters But CBP said their officers saved the man's life by acting swiftly to stop the attempted suicide and transported him to a hospital. A spokesman in Michigan for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the man who attempted suicide was a citizen of Venezuela and was later turned over on March 15 to a detention facility that contracts with the Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It's unclear where he is currently and his name was not provided. The man was allegedly a member of the gang Tren de Aragua, a group in Venezuela labeled by the U.S. as a criminal organization, CBP officials told U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, according to the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. Tlaib had visited a CBP facility on March 21, meeting with CBP leaders who sought to reassure her that their detainees are treated humanely. The suicide attempt had taken place at a detention facility near the Detroit-Windsor tunnel the week before Tlaib's visit, said Christine Sauvé, manager of policy and communication at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. "At the time of (Tlaib's) visit, there had just been a suicide attempt the previous week," Sauvé said. "There's also a detention site at the tunnel, and so what CBP told Rep. Tlaib was that a Venezuelan man, they claimed from Tren de Agua, was in a holding cell and officers observed him trying to hang himself, and they intervened." Sauvé said the Venezuelan man "was at that tunnel port of entry detention site for three days. We don't know what happened to that person. We actually are quite concerned about the conditions of the tunnel." In a statement to the Free Press Wednesday evening, a spokesman for CBP in Michigan explained what the agency said happened. "CBP officers are trained to observe, respond to, and take action to thwart any attempt at self-harm, and at no time was a detainee in our custody able to follow through with an attempt on their life," he said. "In fact, due to the quick actions by CBP officers, the detainee in question was transported to a local hospital, where he was observed, evaluated, and cleared by medical professionals to return to custody at the port of entry, prior to being transferred into ICE custody." He was then transferred on March 15 to an ICE detention center, the spokesman said. The Venezuelan citizen was one of 213 immigrants who were detained in Detroit by U.S. Customs and Border Protection over a two-month period after President Donald Trump took office in January, according to data the agency provided to Tlaib. Tlaib provided the data to the center, who shared it with the Free Press this week. Tlaib did not return a phone call and message Wednesday. About 90% of the 213 immigrants detained from January 20 to March 21 were people who accidentally took the wrong lane in southwest Detroit onto the Ambassador Bridge, which connects the U.S. to Canada, Sauvé said. Some also had mistakenly tried to cross through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel in downtown Detroit. About 100 of the 213 cases were first-time encounters with CBP, said officials with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. CBP told Tlaib that 40 of the people detained were gang members with Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has said is a growing threat and is part of the reason they're toughening immigration enforcement. CBP disputed some of the data provided by Tlaib to the center, saying it's not completely accurate. More: Amid immigrant anxiety, Detroit's oldest Catholic parish gets new owner, $50M in support "While CBP did encounter just over 200 aliens from Jan. 20 to March 21, only approximately half of those were detained and turned over to ICE/ERO (Enforcement Removal Operations branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) after CBP secondary processing was complete," the CBP spokesman said. "When Rep. Tlaib visited the Port of Detroit in March, there were no individuals being detained at our facilities." The data reveals for the first time the frequency of immigrants being detained in Detroit after taking a wrong turn onto the bridge and tunnel. The immigrants were detained in a CBP facility in a building in southwest Detroit that is near the entrance to the Ambassador Bridge. CPB told the Free Press the facility is at the Port of Detroit. A managing attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, Ruby Robinson, raised questions about conditions in the facility, saying detainees in some cases are being held for prolonged periods, not getting access to counsel, and lacking proper food and sanitary supplies like diapers for children. Tlaib visited the facility on March 21, meeting with CBP officials. Marty Raybon, director of field operations at the Detroit Field Office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, defended the facility in a post on X after Tlaib's visit, saying immigrant detainees are "treated with dignity and respect." "We hosted @RepRashida today to highlight our safe/secure facilities in #Detroit and discuss the realities of our ongoing immigration enforcement mission," Raybon said. "Make no mistake — those held in our custody are treated with dignity and respect, regardless of immigration status." Tlaib was "shown a supply rooms that had diapers, clothes, toys, and the food that's available, like ramen and microwave pasta," Sauvé said. But in one recent case, an immigrant mother named Sarahi and her children were not given diapers and a child who developed a fever and cough was not given medication, said Robinson, her attorney. What CBP told Tlaib last month "conflicts with ... what our client shared with us previously," Sauvé said. "In that case, they did not have access to diapers or clothing" and medicine. More: Wrong turn at Ambassador Bridge exit leads to detention for Detroit immigrant mom, kids A CBP spokesman said the facility that's being criticized "was established by CBP at the Port of Detroit in the event aliens including family units with no legal status in the U.S. needed to be temporarily housed, while they awaited transfer to ICE custody. This facility has seldom been utilized as there has not been an influx of family units encountered at our ports of entry." Immigrants being detained while accidentally entering the bridge are not new and took place in previous administrations, Robinson said. But what's different now is that CBP is holding them in their own facility for long periods of time even though the agency is not equipped traditionally to house inmates. In the past, the detainees would be released and put on a tether or asked to appear for a court hearing at a later time, Robinson said. Now, they are detained and then deported with little transparency, advocates said. "People make a wrong turn and then they end up disappearing into CBP custody," Sauvé said. "There's the lack of transparency and oversight, and the other big problem here is just the overall curtailing of due process, the fairness that we hold so dear, guaranteed under our constitution to make sure that people have access to counsel and the opportunity to have their case heard in court." Tlaib and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center are expected to speak out about these challenges at a news conference April 24. "These numbers seem high and unsettling," Robinson said of the 213 immigrants detained over two months in one center. He doesn't have the data for previous years and has been trying through FOIA requests with CBP to get more information. Robinson also questioned how CBP decided that 40 of the immigrants detained were members of Tren de Aragua In the case of Sarahi, the immigrant mother from Guatemala who lives in Detroit with two girls who are both U.S. citizens, ages 1 and 5, the family was detained after accidentally entering the lane to the Ambassador Bridge while on their way to Costco for some weekend shopping, Robinson said. GPS directions routed them toward a Costco in Windsor, Canada, instead of in Michigan. For five days, the woman and her family were stuck in a detention center, confused and scared about what was happening to them and where they were, and unable to get access to a lawyer. The woman's brother, who was traveling with them to Costco, also was detained. CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham defended the agency in a statement last month to the Free Press, released by a spokesman for CBP in Michigan. "When individuals violate immigration laws, their choices make them subject to detention and removal," Beckham said. "In this case, an illegal alien was encountered at the Detroit Ambassador Bridge after driving into Canada without travel documents." Regarding the issue of wrong turns onto the bridge and tunnel, CBP said that they are following a "routine procedure" when they check on the legal status of people who want to cross back into the U.S. There are many signs on the highways in metro Detroit alerting drivers they will enter Canada if they're in a particular lane, CBP said. "CBP is aware of instances where individuals, including illegal aliens, have made unintended entries into Canada from Michigan ports of entry, or attempted to re-enter the United States without proper documentation," the CBP spokesman said Wednesday. "All individuals seeking to enter the United States at a port of entry are subject to inspection by CBP officers for compliance with immigration, customs, and agriculture regulations as a matter of routine procedure." The spokesman described the procedures that border officers do in deciding whether to detain or allow drivers back into the U.S. "CBP officers determine a traveler's admissibility based on the inspection process, which includes a review of the travel documents presented," he said. "If an alien cannot provide valid documentation or establish a lawful basis to enter or remain in the United States, they may be deemed inadmissible under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and subject to removal proceedings following due process." Most people who cross borders don't encounter any problems, the CBP said. The U.S. is no longer releasing unauthorized immigrants when they encounter them and instead move to transfer them to ICE for deportation, officials added. Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@ or X @nwarikoo This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Venezuelan immigrant detained in Detroit tried to take life
The Guardian
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
How Trump's Canada threats dampened Quebec separatist movement
It was the middle of the night that the Bloc Québécois realized they had achieved the improbable. For weeks, the separatist party in Canada's Francophone province had been campaigning hard to steal an electoral district in Montreal long held by the Liberals. When the trickle of votes finally stopped on that September evening, the Bloc's Louis-Philippe Sauvé had emerged victorious by a narrow margin of 200 votes. Chastened by the loss, then prime minister Justin Trudeau admitted his Liberals had 'a lot of work to do'. The back-to-back blows reflected a governing party in tatters and a leader losing his grip on power. And to party faithful, the Bloc's win reflected an excitement the separatist movement was once again in ascendance. Six months later, as Canada finds itself in the middle of a federal election campaign, the heady days of the Bloc's growing popularity are over. Donald Trump's effort to trash his country's relationship with Canada have led to dramatic realigning of allegiances, with a swell in Canadian pride washing over regional differences. On a recent afternoon, the district of Verdun was bustling and the sun was shining on election signs for major political parties, including the Bloc's 'Je choisis le Québec' (I choose Quebec) posters as they fight for both Sauvé's seat and the prospect of Quebec sovereignty. Experts say those efforts are doomed to fail in the coming 28 April election. 'Sauvé will get to put on his resume that he was an MP for six months. And that's great for him. But there's no way the Bloc is holding that seat in the coming days,' said Philippe Fournier, a polling analyst at 338Canada. 'Things were great for the Bloc months ago. Now, not so much.' The shift was largely the result of Donald Trump's repeated threats to annex Canada and his imposition of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, prompting fears in Quebec that further actions from the White House could have devastating effects on its timber, mining and manufacturing industries. Trump's efforts to damage Canada's economy has had the unsurprising effect of unifying a diverse geography in a common cause. But a recent poll found that amid the surge in Canadian patriotism in wake of Trump's threats, one of the largest leaps is coming from Quebec – a region that in the last half-century has held two referendums over whether to leave Canada. Quebecers have long had a strained relationship with the rest of the country over recognition of its distinct culture. In the 1950s, powerful company bosses would speak only English to their workers – and often refuse to allow French to be spoken at all. Those dynamics helped spark the Quiet Revolution – the bloodless overthrow of Catholicism and the anglophone ruling classes in the province – and the beginnings of Quebec separatist movement. Efforts took a darker turn in the 9170s when the militant separatist Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ), inspired by socialist revolutionaries in Africa and Latin America, demanded both sovereignty for the province and an end to its capitalist system. Two high-profile kidnappings – of a British diplomat and a senior politician – ended with a grisly murder. In 1991, the Bloc Québécois emerged as a federal party to give Quebec a voice, serving as a corrective to the dominance of Anglophone politics and culture in the rest of Canada. Four years later, Quebec came close to seceding, with a provincial referendum in favour of independence. But Trump's aggression has temporarily dampened separatism and invigorated Quebecers in a defence of Canada. That fervour was on display in February when Canada faced off against the United States in a closely watched ice hockey game. 'I have never in my life heard people in Montreal sing the national anthem like they did, before booing the US anthem,' said Fournier. 'I'm not an overly patriotic or partisan person, but I had shivers.' Even the Bloc's founder, Lucien Bouchard, has signaled temporary support for Canada, telling La Presse that 'we are together' in the broader project of preserving Canadian sovereignty. Analysts say the waning sentiment among sovereigntists is simple calculation: an independent Quebec can only exist with an independent Canada. The rise of Canadian nationalism has largely benefitted one figure: prime minister Mark Carney, an Anglophone whose tenuous command of the French language might have weighed on his candidacy in any other election. But Quebec is a region of the country known for its unpredictable voters. 'This is not a normal election, and I don't think a unilingual Anglophone would [normally] get this level of sympathy, but Francophone voters see he's making a sincere effort. That counts for something in a place where they're used to seeing outside political leaders as uncaring about the French language. And second, he has probably the best resumé for prime minister in their lifetimes.' Carney, an economist and former central banker, has flubbed names and key events in the province's past, an admission he made on Tout le monde en parle (Everybody's talking about it), an immensely popular weekly Radio-Canada program that draws one million viewers. 'Obviously, my French is far from perfect,' he told the host and audience. Quebec's apparent embrace of the Liberals foreshadows a grim reversal of fortunes for the Bloc, who once hoped to win as many as 50 seats in the province. Now, they're staring down steep losses that could wipe the party out. 'They've gone from thinking 'We might be the official opposition' to 'Okay, maybe we'll hold the balance of power in a minority government' to 'Now we're just fighting for survival,'' said Fournier. Quebec-centric parties have long experienced rapid ascents followed by perilous collapses. In the 2011 federal election, the Bloc went from 47 seats in parliament to only 4. But a recent surge in support for the provincial Parti Québécois – an expressly separatist party – had appeared to bode well for the Bloc's political fortunes in this year's federal vote. 'The polling looked good. Everything was going well and there was a sense that voters appreciated the work being done by the Bloc. But then it all shifted,' said Kristina Michaud, a two-term Bloc MP who recently opted not to run for re-election. 'It feels as though the Trump administration is calling the shots in this election. He owns the narrative. And with Canadian sovereignty and unity being defended and being talked about, people feel they're better off with a party that can lead a country - and we know the Bloc cannot do that. But in times of crisis, there is a need for unity.' Michaud worries that an embrace of the Liberals and Carney comes at a cost, cutting out the opposition parties that serve as the 'conscience' of the House of Commons and hampering the Bloc's ability to be a voice for Quebec. 'I was elected in 2019 being an advocate for the independence of Quebec, and when I arrived in Ottawa, I became even more certain of my values and that this was needed,' said Michaud. 'I saw how different Canadian culture was from the one in Quebec.' To preserve that culture, Quebec's governing party has passed controversial legislation in recent years that requires all provincial communication with immigrants to be in French and limits the use of English in the legal system. The law also aims to one day change Canada's constitution to redefine Quebec as a nation, with its official and common leagues being French. 'There are times I feel like a stranger in my own country,' said Jacob Lamontagne, a business student from Sherbrooke. 'We need these laws because if the English speakers have their way there'd be nothing. No culture. No language. We know because they've tried before.' But Lamontagne has also seen the surge in Canadian patriotism reflected among his friends and classmates as the threats from the US president persist. 'The moment the threat subsides, so too will the patriotism,' he said. 'When Quebecers love and are embracing Canada, all you need to know is that things are really shit.'
