Rate schedule from 2025 budget changes previous percentage-alcohol wine rate to price-per-litre
On wine, the Calgary Herald writes: “Alberta’s had the least expensive prices but, after this price hike takes effect, we’ll have one of the highest. […] The change will likely lead consumers to purchase cheaper wine and could negatively affect sales” –
CBC “beer columnist” Jason Foster opines that the 36 steps of beer markup are going to disproportionately affect the larger craft breweries, such as Big Rock, Great Western, and Steam Whistle:
Big Rock is hit hard by these changes. I suspect so are Great Western out of Saskatchewan and Ontario’s Steam Whistle. These are all significant regional brewers (in a Canadian context) who have production numbers in six figures. Each one of these breweries essentially saw a significant markup increase this weekend. My back-of-napkin math suggests that Big Rock’s markup, for example, will go up about 20% overnight. That is about $1 million […] that Big Rock either has to tack on to its price or eat as lower margins. Given Big Rock has lost money the last three years, the latter is hard to do.
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This seems a really strange time to hand a policy victory to some U.S.-based multinationals. […] Given the need for Canadian governments to do everything they can to support Canadian industry in the face of Trump’s punitive and incoherent tariffs, it seems just a bit tone deaf to pull this stunt right now. Why kneecap legitimate Canadian businesses to benefit a handful of multinationals?