You already pay some of the highest prices in the world for your favourite drink. The new escalator tax means that spirit prices will rise every year even more. Whether you are buying a bottle of Canadian Whisky in your liquor store, or a cocktail at your neighbourhood bar or restaurant, you will have to pay more to Ottawa.

The new escalator tax is bad news for Canadian workers, not just for the people making some of the best whiskies in the world, but for Canadian farmers who grow the premium barley, corn, rye and wheat used by Canada’s nearly 200 distillers, and for those working in liquor stores, bars and restaurants across the country. Canada’s distillers today support 8,500 jobs across the country and generate $5.8 billion annually in local economic activity. The new automatic escalator tax will mean fewer jobs, less investment and higher taxes.

Canada’s distillers make some of the world’s best whiskies and other spirits. At the same time as Canada is raising its taxes on spirits, other countries like the United States are cutting them. Canada’s distillers need fair and stable taxes to be able to compete with other countries. Canadians will always drink spirits, but higher taxes every year may mean that we won’t make them here anymore, and that would be a shame!