REGINA — Federal minister Rechie Valdez was in Regina on Wednesday to share what she called good news with those at District Brewing Co..
Valdez, who is Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism, was there to highlight the government’s two-year extension of alcohol excise duty relief for brewers, distillers and winemakers.
“We've heard directly from breweries, distilleries, and wineries about the challenges with the rising costs,” said Valdez, who noted the government has taken two steps.
“One is we're pausing the automatic increase in taxes, specifically to two per cent over the next two years,” Valdez said. She called this “vitally important to create stability and predictability” for brewers like District Brewing.
The second piece is that for smaller breweries producing up to 15,000 hectolitres, “we're also cutting in half the excise rate at 50 per cent.”
According to the government news release, for a craft brewery that represents up to about $90,000 in additional tax savings in the 2026-27 fiscal year alone.
Valdez said the move represents “upwards of $30 million in savings across all of the brewers, distilleries, and wineries across Canada.”
The government said the relief is aimed at helping combat rising costs affecting the craft brewing industry.
The excise tax increase had previously been paused during COVID-19 to support the industry, but Valdez said rising prices linked to tariffs and global instability have created renewed pressures.
“So this is the third time we've been able to pause it. We've listened to industry. We've listened to breweries, wineries, distilleries. We understand that there is a rise again because of the conflict, as well as the U.S. tariffs. We recognize that it's still important for us to continue to provide that support. And this is our way of making sure we're able to balance the supports for small businesses, but also our fiscal position as a government. So we'll continue to listen, continue to be there.”
Nathan Rivet, marketing co-ordinator for District Brewing, said the brewery welcomes the announcement.
“We welcome all incentives that come towards us from the government,” Rivet said.
He believes about 70 per cent of people working in the brewing industry are employed by small- to medium-sized breweries.
“So when these things come up, when these caps on the excise tax come up, we appreciate that a lot. And we also appreciate the, for us, we brew about 5,000 hectolitres a year. And so that puts us in the range of having quite a bit of savings with the excise tax. It's 50 per cent reduction up to 15,000 hectolitres, right? So for us, that's a sweet spot, so we really appreciate that.”
Joe van Heerden, CEO of District Brewing, said the excise tax savings help, but added “we're okay that it's not permanent.”
“It does help … but we also recognize our government has to provide services to us. As a citizen and a corporation in this country we're happy to pay our taxes.”
