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Alberta has elected to pick on Ontario as it is the biggest liquor market in Canada. May also be called out for trade barriers, this is for other provinces as well.

EDMONTON – The Alberta government is opening a new front in its beer war with other provinces. They are doing this by targeting Ontario for what it says are its unfair trade barriers. These barriers they claim are for Alberta-made suds and other alcoholic products.

The initiative emerged as Alberta announced a full retreat on its own craft beer subsidies. Some findings of a judge that were found as unconstitutional last spring.

“Alberta has the most open liquor policy in the country, offering Albertans a choice of over 3,700 Canadian products. … Alberta merchants stock and sell 745 alcoholic beverages from Ontario,” said Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous. He said that at an Edmonton brewery on Monday. “Ontario is the largest market in the country. This is three times larger than our own. Irrespective of that we can only find about 20 Alberta liquor products listed for sale in Ontario.”

Being made against Ontario, there is a complaint that has been lodged under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. The reason, it has the biggest liquor market in Canada. However, it could be expanded to include other provinces with similar barriers, Bilous said. He also added that he’s hoping for an amicable solution.

Under the CFTA, Ontario will have 120 days to respond to the complaint made in a letter sent Monday morning. The complaint may then proceed to a CFTA panel for a ruling on corrective actions. Furthermore, allowed retaliatory measures, with a provision for either side to appeal that ruling. This is explained by Jean-Marc Prevost, Bilous’ press secretary

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario said in a statement Monday. They said that it is aware of the Alberta action. Also added that “breweries from anywhere in Canada are equally able to access our listing process.”

In his letter to Ontario Trade Minister Todd Smith. Bilous complains that Ontario gives local brewers access to stores over Alberta brewers. It also gives Ontario beverages preferential shelf or refrigerated locations. Hence, requires Alberta brewers to provide commercially confidential information to their larger competitors. Required to be listed as this information holds some key facts. Further, it gives Ontario small brewers a significant discount on listing costs.

Surprised by Alberta’s move, here is what Smith said;

“Just last week, I sat across from representatives from the government of Alberta. Not even once did they mention this to me,” he said in a statement.

“Regarding the interprovincial trade barriers for reducing, this is a commitment from the Government of Ontario. This is as we made clear in our fall economic statement when we said we wouldn’t stand in the way of pipeline projects moving forward.”

Neil Herbst, the owner of Alley Kat Brewery of Edmonton, said he has faced numerous non-tariff barriers when trying to ship his products to Ontario, giving as an example a $400 laboratory fee assessed on a shipment of $1,600 worth of beer

Also Monday, Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci said he will cancel by Dec. 15 a program of grants for small Alberta craft brewers in order to bring provincial beer regulations in compliance with Canadian trade law.

The province will return to a system similar that was in place before 2015. $1.25 per litre i.e. a tax collected for the province, also known as markups. The producers of 50,000 hectolitres per year of all the beer sold in Alberta, the costings are applicable to all of them.  Smaller brewers, regardless of the province of origin, will be able to apply for markups of between 10 and 60 cents per litre.

Alberta dropped its graduated markup system to go to a flat markup on all beer in 2015. It at first exempted brewers in Saskatchewan, B.C. and Alberta, then changed its rules so it applied to all Canadian brewers but introduced a subsidy program solely for Alberta’ small brewers.

It lost a CFTA panel ruling initiated by Artisan Ales, a Calgary-based beer importer, which argued the grant program unfairly tilted the market against its product.

Last June, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge ordered the province to pay a total of $2.1 million in restitution to Great Western Brewing of Saskatoon and Steam Whistle Brewing of Toronto, finding that the subsidies created a trade barrier against their products.

At the time, Ceci said the province would consider appealing that ruling His department says Alberta now has 137 liquor manufacturers, including 99 brewers. The number of brewers has risen to a significant three times. Introduced in 2016, the subsidy program is a major reason for such an increase.

The province says it will introduce more supports for Alberta liquor manufacturers in the next few weeks

Though prices under the trilateral agreement may remain unchanged, consumers will likely have more choice in the dairy case

Canadians hoping their weekly grocery staples like milk and eggs may soon cost fewer. This is thanks to a new trade deal that opens up Canada’s dairy industry may be out of luck. Experts say the trilateral agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are unlikely to bring prices down. However, could leave shoppers with more choices in the dairy aisle.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement announced Sunday night will grant an expanded 3.6% market access. This access is to the domestic dairy market and eliminates two milk price classes. Also, including the controversial Class 7.

U.S. President Donald Trump had long criticized Canada’s supply management system for undercutting American exports and hurting U.S. farmers.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Canada implemented supply management in the dairy industry in the 1970s, which sets quotas on production based on anticipated demand. The government also decides how much blocks out foreign production with high tariffs. In the form of an amount paid to them for the production made by the farmers. This is apart from the government’s key decision making for the farmers.

Prior to the new deal. The Experts said Trump did not necessarily want to dismantle supply management. However, rather was more angered by milk classifications like Class 7. The elimination shall take place under the new agreement signed.

“I don’t see a big, immediate impact on retail pricing,” said Al Mussell. He is the founder of Agri-Good Economic Systems Inc. This is an agriculture and food research organization.

The standard four-litre bag of milk is a loss leader for most grocers. Sold below the price needed just in order to attain profits, he said. On the promotion is cheese and butter at any given time, he said.

“Nothing changes there.”

The Class 7 milk ultra-filtered is a protein-heavy concentrate. However, Class 7 milk ultra-filtered is under the new deal’s elimination. It is used to make cheese and other dairy products, is the biggest news item, said Sylvain Charlebois. He is a Dalhousie University professor who is the lead author on an annual food price report. The report estimated how much grocery and restaurant prices will rise or fall over the coming year.

In 2016, Canada created the Class 7 pricing agreement that has essentially restricted U.S. exports of the product. It allows Canadian dairy processors to buy domestic milk at cheaper world market prices instead of higher prices controlled by the national supply management system.

THE CLASS ELIMINATION

Eliminating that class would allow processors to become more competitive and potentially give grocers room to bring down prices, Charlebois said.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that consumers will reap the rewards or that the sector will pass on savings to consumers,” he said.

If cheaper products than what’s available in Canada come in on the wholesale market, said Mussell, grocers will just eat less of a loss on their dairy promotions or loss leaders.

The Dairy Farmers of Canada, which released a statement from its president saying the deal “will have a dramatic impact” on the sector and farmers, can’t answer if there will be any changes to consumer prices, wrote spokeswoman Lucie Boileau in an email.

“We’re still analyzing the agreement.”

The Canadian Dairy Commission did not respond to a request for comment about how the new deal may impact consumer prices. The commission sets support prices for butter and skims milk powder, which provinces use as a reference to establish provincial prices for industrial milk.

The one positive for consumers–at least those in bigger markets such as Toronto or Vancouver–may be more choice in the dairy aisles, said Mike von Massow, an associate professor at the University of Guelph. He adds there won’t be a substantial change in retail prices.

Von Massow points to the cheese aisle as an example of increasing variety. Growth has been small, he said, but there’s a broader range of product now than 15 years ago.

Since Canada entered the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, or CETA, with the European Union and allowed more European cheese to be imported into the country, he said, there’s been growth in varieties available.

“We’re seeing a wider variety of cheeses than we’ve ever seen before rather than the bottom falling out of the cheese market.”

That was the message from Premier Doug Ford, who is poised to dismantle the previous Liberal government’s labour reforms that increased sick day benefits and paid vacation, and were set to raise the minimum wage from $14 an hour to $15 on Jan. 1.

“We’re getting rid of Bill 148,” Ford thundered in the legislature after being questioned by Liberal MPP Michael Coteau.

The premier added that “60,000 people lost their jobs under Bill 148,” an apparent reference to part-time positions that have been cut.

“When I criss-crossed this province, I talked to the people who earn minimum wage, the ones who even were able to keep their job. I’d go into a little Home Hardware. Rather than having seven employees, they’d cut three employees because of Bill 148,” he said.

“We’re going to create more jobs so we can hire more people, unlike the Liberals, who destroyed this province.”

Later Tuesday, Ford said alarm over his remarks shouldn’t come as “any surprise” given his comments on the reforms during the spring election campaign, and he promised more details “over the next few weeks.”

“Bottom line, it’s an absolute job killer,” he said.

On a year-over-year basis, employment increased by 1.1 per cent, or 79,000 jobs, in Ontario in August, according to Statistics Canada. Total hours worked across the province also increased after much of Bill 148 took effect in January.

To repeal the legislation, the government will need to introduce a replacement bill. Deena Ladd of the Toronto-based Workers’ Action Centre said she was “waiting for more than just a comment in question period to actually take the government seriously at this point.”

“I think everyone is really kind of appalled that they would consider getting rid of basic labour legislation,” she said. “They’re just talking about it and I think they’re evaluating the response they’re getting from the people in the province.”

The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, better known as Bill 148, provided two paid, job-protected emergency leave days for all workers, increased holiday entitlement, mandated equal pay for casual and part-time workers doing the same job as full-time employees, enshrined improved scheduling protections and boosted protections for temp agency workers.

The legislation represents the most sweeping change to the province’s labour laws in decades, and was implemented after two years of research and public consultation conducted by two independent labour experts. About one-third of Ontario’s workforce are vulnerable workers in precarious employment, according to the final 400-page report written by the two experts about proposed labour reforms.

The advisers also found that Ontario faced “serious” and extensive problems enforcing basic employment rights prior to Bill 148, leaving thousands of vulnerable workers open to abuse.

Coteau was incredulous that Ford would effectively throw out the baby with the bathwater in his bid to cancel the minimum wage increase by getting rid of all the reforms in Bill 148.

“I think it’s reasonable that workers be given fair notice for compensation when their employer cancels their shift,” said the Liberal MPP for Don Valley East, a former cabinet minister.

“It allows employees to have some stability in their schedule if they’re going to school, to ensure they have adequate child care and if they’re working a second job.

“Some 1.6 million Ontarians do not have sick days. In the legislation it guarantees two days to Ontarians. This is about decency for employees,” Coteau added.

“Does the premier believe that two sick days is too much for people in Ontario? He says he stands up for the little guy. He says he stands up for the people of Ontario. Two sick days is decency.”

At a news conference last week in support of the $15 minimum wage, currently scheduled to kick in on Jan. 1, Toronto-based emergency room physician Dr. Edward Xie said paid sick days were “not just an improvement to labour standards, but also a major public health advance.”

At least 145 countries, including 23 jurisdictions in the United States, give workers the right to be compensated when they’re ill.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said “it’s unfortunate we have a government now that’s going to drag us backwards likely to a place where people are not going to be able to get a fair shake at work.”

“I’ve met guys who stop me literally on the street canvassing … and say they’ve worked at the same employer for over 20 years and still only get two weeks’ vacation. Really? I mean, it’s time to make those changes,” Horwath said.

Chris Buckley, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, said worker advocates had fought “long and hard” to make improvements to the province’s “severely outdated” labour and employment laws.
“I caution the premier and today’s government not to eliminate Bill 148,” he said. “As a labour movement, we’re not going to sit idly by.” But Rocco Rossi, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, praised Ford.

“We have been persistently urging the government to take immediate action and repeal Bill 148 due to the compounding labour reforms which come at too high a cost to the economy and workers,” he said.

“The very real unintended consequences have forced our members to decrease product offerings and increase the price of products being sold, hire fewer employees, reduce services and hours of operation, cut back on employee benefits and halt capital investment — all in an effort to stay afloat.”

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