Latest news with #craftbreweries
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Maine governor calls Trump tariffs ‘a big tax heist'
Maine Gov. Janet Trafton Mills speaks at the 2024 summer meeting of the National Governors Association, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Salt Lake City. The current tariffs straining the long-standing trade relationship between Canada and the United States are nothing more than a 'tax on American people, according to the governor of Maine. 'The president is taking trillions of dollars in so-called tariffs that are really taxes importing into the putting into the federal budget,' Gov. Janet Mills told CTV News Atlantic's Todd Battis. 'People are waking up and understanding that this is a big tax heist, as the Wall Street Journal described it.' Mills says the tariffs are impacting Maine's 176 craft breweries, its forestry sector and the seafood industry. 'Putting tariffs on lobster and seafood when these lobsters don't know if they're a Maine lobster or Canadian lobster, they go back and forth to be processed,' Mills says. 'It's really unfair and irrational.' Next week Mills and other New England governors will meet in Boston to discuss trade and tariffs with six Canadian premiers. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy extended the invitation to the premiers last month. Mills plans to reinforce the longstanding relationship her state has with the various provinces and discuss creative ways the two sides can maintain economic stability amid the trade war. She will also tell Canadian leaders her intentions to continue pressuring congressional delegations in the northeastern United States to 'take back their power' and stop 'harming our deep seated relationship with Canada.' Speaking with reporters Thursday, New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said she will be looking to encourage the New England governors to make it clear to the White House how tariffs are damaging both sides of the border. 'We can get those messages through to the people that we hope can influence the president,' says Holt. 'To move off of his 50 per cent tariff on aluminum and his tariff on autos, and land in a place where we have the kind of free and open trade that we've had before.' 'I've been talking with small businesses up and down the coast and interior Maine who've always had friends and family come from Canada to visit in the summer,' says Mills. 'Now they're canceling reservations, and I hate to see that happen.' The Maine government has been posting signs across Maine saying 'Welcome' or 'Bienvenue Canadiens!' It's a relationship that goes far beyond just business. 'Our families, cultures, cuisine, languages are all entwined,' Mills says, noting her family originally came from Pugwash, N.S. 'Especially in Maine with a 611-mile border between [us], New Brunswick, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces.'
CBC
15-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Ontario to spend hundreds of millions to boost alcohol sector
Ontario plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars boosting the province's alcohol sector, including programs to support grape farmers, wineries, distilleries and craft breweries. The province will spend $175 million over five years as part of a new program designed to boost the number of Ontario grapes in blended wine. The province said the program will eventually double the percentage of Ontario grapes, "leading to the purchase of thousands of additional tonnes of Ontario grapes from farmers." The government is also making changes to help support the recently liberalized alcohol marketplace, with more than $250 million over the next two years to make it more competitive — and make booze more affordable. The changes include a tax rate cut for spirits at on-site distillery retail stores and a reduction in the microbrewer basic tax. Last year the province liberalized rules on alcohol sales, allowing booze to be sold in convenience and grocery stores. The alcohol modernization plan has gone "amazing," said Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. The new supports are part of the budget tabled Thursday that will see a $14.6-billion deficit as the province spends money to counteract the trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. "This is a really big boost into world class spirits and alcohol here in Ontario and we're just levelling the playing field and reducing taxes and fees," Bethlenfalvy said. More than 4,000 convenience stores were granted licences last September to sell beer, wine, cider and coolers, a figure that the province says has jumped to more than 5,000 such licences. In late October, the province implemented the final phase of its liberalization policy when it allowed any grocer to sell booze. About 400 stores had signed up at the time and that number has since jumped to more than 1,000. Alcohol regime 'going extremely well,' minister says The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the province's main alcohol seller and wholesaler, has seen revenues drop over the past few years from $2.45 billion in 2022-23 to projected revenues of $1.85 billion in 2025-26. Officials point to the continued downward trend in alcohol consumption across the province as the primary driver for decreased revenues. But the province is bullish on the Crown corporation, projecting annual revenues to reach more than $2.4 billion by 2027-28, "driven by its expanded role as a wholesaler in the modern marketplace." "I think it's going extremely well," Bethlenfalvy said of the new alcohol regime. "We're hearing from convenience stores that this has been a game changer. The revenues are up, they're hiring more people, that's a win for consumers who are getting more choices." Province to change look of cannabis stores The province also plans to change the look of cannabis stores by allowing businesses to take down their window coverings so long as pot products are kept out of view from the outside. The changes are being done to help the province prepare for revenue streams within Canada that will soon open up. Ford's government recently tabled legislation to get rid of all internal trade barriers and has signed memorandums of understanding with Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba to allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales. The premier wants to sign bilateral deals with every province and territory that will further expand the customer base for Ontario producers. New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said the province has its priorities wrong in the budget. "There is more in here about alcohol sales and alcohol generally and there's not one mention of child care," she said. "There's more in here about those issues than almost anything else."
