FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ON – Following the recent visit to Niagara-On-The-Lake by the Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Tony Baldinelli, the Member of Parliament for Niagara Falls riding, questioned the government’s commitment to resolving the issues faced by the Canadian grape and wine industry, as a result of poor federal Liberal policy decision-making, which has hurt the industry.

“We need our federal government to be inclusive, transparent, and honest in its actions with regards to the support required by our important local grape and wine industry. Perhaps, if the Trudeau government were interested in providing the long-term solutions, certainty, and stability, so badly needed by this sector, our grape growers and wineries would be better served. Instead, anxious industry members get a staged pre-election photo-opportunity to re-announce funding already pledged in the Spring budget. Our vitally important grape and wine sector – both wineries and grape growers – deserve far better than this,” said Baldinelli.

Since his election in October 2019, Baldinelli has been meeting regularly with local grape growers and wineries to stay on top of pressing federal issues facing the industry, both locally and nationally.

“My takeaways from these meetings are that the wine industry is extremely frustrated by this inept Liberal government when it comes to supporting Canadian wine interests”, said Baldinelli. “First, it was this Trudeau government, which cost the wine industry it’s valuable excise tax exemption program, through its bad decision to implement an automatic escalator tax on alcohol, beginning in 2017.”

“Then, the same government prolonged industry uncertainty by delaying the announcement of a replacement program”, Baldinelli added. “And now that replacement funding has finally been announced in its recent April budget, the wine industry is concerned that the program is short-term, that funding is insufficient in year one, and the government is delaying the release of more details about how this important program is going to work”, he explained.

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Contact Information:

Billy Morrison
Office of Tony Baldinelli, MP for Niagara Falls
[email protected]