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The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has sent a letter urging BC’s Solicitor General to makes changes to regulations governing the sale of BC craft spirits.
“The time is now,” said Maryse Harvey, president of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce. “We are facing unprecedented challenges with our neighbours.”In the letter, the chamber stated, “the tariffs issue, combined with renewed emphasis on reducing barriers to interprovincial trade, have once again brought this issue to the surface.”According to the chamber, most distilleries in B.C. are small and are struggling to compete against larger non-B.C. based distilleries that overwhelm the market.“Now is the time to really ensure that we remove all the barriers to our economy,” Harvey told Global News. “We want to see some changes made. We feel the time is now. We need to move forward with those changes.” Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery welcomed the chamber’s support.“We are super happy to see the Kelowna Chamber reach out and amplify the message that British Columbians have been sending to this government over the past two weeks that now is the time to stand up for British Columbians, for B.C. business, B.C. farmers and B.C. jobs,” said Tyler Dyck, who owns the Vernon-based distillery with his family.
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Dyck, who is also the president of the Craft Distillers Guild of B.C., said each of B.C.’s 85 craft distilleries is only allowed to produce 50,000 litres a year before incurring a big fine.“[A] $280,000 penalty,” Dyck said. “To put a production cap on valued-added B.C. producers is just really shooting yourself in the foot… You should be championing them.”Dyck is calling on the government to level the playing field with the wine industry. “There is a beautiful craft wine aisle, a B.C. VQA wine aisle in every government liquor store. There is zero presence of that for craft spirits,” Dyck said. “In fact, if you walked into the store you would not see a true B.C. craft distillery represented anywhere in there, only the multi-nationals. So if British Columbians don’t get a chance to see their products before them, they don’t get a chance to buy them.”
Dyck said selling craft spirits in government stores is far too costly. He also said the industry lacks a re-imbursement program for every bottle of B.C. VQA wine sold.“Instead of getting $33 back like a winery, they only get $13 back, which is less than the cost of production,” Dyck said. “And if they can’t be there, they can’t be relevant, they can’t power the economy.”Solicitor General Garry Begg wasn’t available for a response Monday.However, Dyck told Global News industry leaders will be meeting with Begg on Tuesday to discuss the matter.“It’s definitely a high level meeting and it’s with the people that can make the decisions,” Dyck said. “British Columbians want them to do this.”
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