Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2022-10-03 19:00:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Alex Ruff (Bruce\u2014Grey\u2014Owen Sound, CPC)",
        "fr": "M. Alex Ruff (Bruce\u2014Grey\u2014Owen Sound, PCC)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"7313147\" data-originallang=\"en\">Madam Speaker, I asked on May 20 whether the <a data-HoCid=\"278943\" href=\"/politicians/chrystia-freeland/\" title=\"Chrystia Freeland\">finance minister</a> would keep her promise to support the long-term interests of wineries and cideries, especially smaller businesses like the cideries in my riding of Bruce\u2014Grey\u2014Owen Sound, or just continue to tax them into bankruptcy. I want to thank the finance minister for listening to those of us in opposition, especially those in the Conservative Party, the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois and even, I believe, the NDP, who were calling for an exemption so that Canadian wineries and cideries using Canadian honey or apples could be exempt from the excise duty.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313148\" data-originallang=\"en\">That being said, I would like to remind the Liberal government of the following facts.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313149\" data-originallang=\"en\">Canada has thousands of high-quality wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries. Over 95% of these producers are small businesses, many of which have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the inflation crisis, payroll tax increases, labour shortages and the ongoing supply chain issues. Small businesses have taken on an average of almost $170,000 in new pandemic-related debt over the last couple of years. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313150\" data-originallang=\"en\">The cost of living continues to increase faster than prevailing wages. Agriculture producers are already facing serious supply chain disruptions, and the hospitality sector was one of the hardest hit during the pandemic. These continued Liberal increases in the excise tax on alcohol will hurt the entire industry, from growers to producers to restaurants to consumers. Furthermore, as a consequence of 40-year record inflation, the tax increase will be higher than ever due to it being tied to the consumer price index. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313151\" data-originallang=\"en\">Canada\u2019s excise duty regime is already uncompetitive compared with those of peer countries, and the escalator makes it worse. Now is not the time to make doing business more expensive via another tax increase. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313152\" data-originallang=\"en\">Tonight, will the <a data-HoCid=\"278943\" href=\"/politicians/chrystia-freeland/\" title=\"Chrystia Freeland\">finance minister</a> commit to supporting Bill <a data-HoCid=\"11665045\" href=\"/bills/44-1/C-266/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Excise Act and the Excise Act, 2001 (adjusted duties - beer, malt liquor, spirits and wine)\">C-266</a>, which would repeal or amend the annual adjustments to the duties on beer, malt, liquor, spirits and wine, or at least freeze the escalator tax and stop the annual increase? </p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"7313147\" data-originallang=\"en\">Madame la Pr\u00e9sidente, le 20 mai dernier, j'ai demand\u00e9 si la <a data-HoCid=\"278943\" href=\"/politicians/chrystia-freeland/\" title=\"Chrystia Freeland\">ministre des Finances</a> allait tenir sa promesse de d\u00e9fendre les int\u00e9r\u00eats \u00e0 long terme des vignobles et des cidreries, notamment les petites entreprises comme les cidreries de ma circonscription, Bruce\u2014Grey\u2014Owen Sound, ou si elle allait simplement continuer \u00e0 les taxer jusqu'\u00e0 les acculer \u00e0 la faillite. Je remercie la ministre des Finances d'avoir \u00e9cout\u00e9 les d\u00e9put\u00e9s de l'opposition, en particulier ceux du Parti conservateur, du Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois et m\u00eame, je crois, du NPD qui demandaient une exon\u00e9ration afin que les cidreries et les vignobles canadiens qui utilisent des pommes ou du miel canadiens puissent \u00eatre exon\u00e9r\u00e9s de la taxe d'accise.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313148\" data-originallang=\"en\">Cela dit, j'aimerais rappeler certains faits au gouvernement lib\u00e9ral.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313149\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le Canada compte des milliers de vignobles, de brasseries, de cidreries et de distilleries de grande qualit\u00e9. Plus de 95 % de ces producteurs sont de petites entreprises, et bon nombre ont \u00e9t\u00e9 affect\u00e9s par la pand\u00e9mie de COVID\u201119, la crise de l'inflation, les hausses des charges sociales, les p\u00e9nuries de main-d'\u0153uvre et les probl\u00e8mes constants dans les cha\u00eenes d'approvisionnement. Les petites entreprises ont accumul\u00e9 en moyenne pr\u00e8s de 170 000 $ de nouvelles dettes li\u00e9es \u00e0 la pand\u00e9mie ces deux derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313150\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le co\u00fbt de la vie continue d'augmenter plus rapidement que les salaires courants. Les producteurs agricoles sont d\u00e9j\u00e0 aux prises avec de graves perturbations de la cha\u00eene d'approvisionnement, et le secteur de l'h\u00f4tellerie a \u00e9t\u00e9 l'un des plus durement touch\u00e9s par la pand\u00e9mie. Les augmentations que les lib\u00e9raux continuent d'imposer \u00e0 la taxe d'accise sur l'alcool vont nuire \u00e0 l'ensemble du secteur, des cultivateurs aux producteurs, en passant par les restaurateurs et les consommateurs. Qui plus est, en raison d'une inflation record depuis 40 ans, l'augmentation de la taxe sera plus \u00e9lev\u00e9e que jamais, car elle est li\u00e9e \u00e0 l'indice des prix \u00e0 la consommation. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313151\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le r\u00e9gime de droits d'accise du Canada est d\u00e9j\u00e0 peu concurrentiel par rapport \u00e0 ceux des pays comparables, et l'indexation ne fait qu'aggraver la situation. Ce n'est pas le moment de rendre les affaires plus co\u00fbteuses par une autre augmentation de taxe.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"7313152\" data-originallang=\"en\">La <a data-HoCid=\"278943\" href=\"/politicians/chrystia-freeland/\" title=\"Chrystia Freeland\">ministre des Finances</a> s'engagera-t-elle ce soir \u00e0 appuyer le projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"11665045\" href=\"/bills/44-1/C-266/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Excise Act and the Excise Act, 2001 (adjusted duties - beer, malt liquor, spirits and wine)\">C\u2011266</a>, qui vise \u00e0 abroger ou \u00e0 modifier les articles de loi qui pr\u00e9voient des ajustements annuels des droits applicables \u00e0 la bi\u00e8re, \u00e0 la liqueur de malt, aux spiritueux et au vin? S'engagera-t-elle \u00e0 tout le moins \u00e0 geler l'indexation automatique de la taxe d'accise et \u00e0 suspendre l'augmentation annuelle?</p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2022/10/3/alex-ruff-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/alex-ruff/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4539/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "11833180",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Adjournment Proceedings",
        "fr": "Motion D'Ajournement"
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Taxation",
        "fr": "La fiscalit\u00e9"
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2022/10/3/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2022%2F10%2F3%2F"
    }
}