LCBO SHOULD PLAY ROLE TO FIGHT EU WINE COMPLAINT – RUNCIMAN
(Toronto) Ontario’s Liquor Control Board should be using their “purchasing weight” to discourage a European Union trade complaint that, if successful, could damage the province’s growing wine industry, according to P.C. critic Bob Runciman, (MPP Leeds-Grenville).
The EU’s complaint, lodged with the World Trade Organization, deals with the requirement for European wineries to pay excise tax on wine sold in Canada while Canadian wineries are exempt if the wine is made 100% from Canadian grown grapes.
The Wine Council of Ontario and the Canadian Vintners Association have called for a boycott of European wines in an effort to have the EU withdraw the complaint and Runciman believes the LCBO should be helping the effort.
“The Europeans are complaining about $10 million of tax relief that helps our small wineries grow and create jobs while at the same time their wine industry receives approximately $2 billion a year in government subsidies” explained the MPP. “The European complaint is rooted in greed and hypocrisy.”
As Consumer minister in 2000, Runciman, along with then LCBO chair Andy Brandt and Wine Council representatives, travelled to Europe to advise governments that if they continued to refuse entry of Ontario icewines into their markets they would face negative impacts with the world’s largest importer of their products, the LCBO.
“That strategy was very successful and we had access for Ontario products within months” said Runciman. “The LCBO could and should be playing a similar role in this situation.”
Runciman urged the LCBO to make it clear to the EU that continuing to pursue the complaint could damage a long-term and very successful relationship.
“In my view, the LCBO has an obligation to assist and support our wine industry and in this situation, should not be sitting on the sidelines,” he concluded.
