The changing economy is creating uncertainty for businesses and workers, and the Government of Canada is responding accordingly, with a focus on what we can control: building a stronger economy at home, protecting Canadian jobs and sectors, and making life more affordable.
Today, the Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), and the Honourable Buckley Belanger, Secretary of State for Rural Development, visited District Brewing Company in Regina, Saskatchewan, to highlight the two-year extension of alcohol excise duty relief for brewers, distillers and winemakers. By renewing these measures, the federal government is providing relief to Canadian businesses, particularly local craft breweries, that contribute to jobs and local economies.
The government's combined measures are offsetting rising costs for an additional two years, starting April 1, 2026, in two ways:
- First, the government is capping inflationary increases: The annual inflation adjustment on beer, spirit and wine excise duties will remain capped at 2%.
- Second, we are providing targeted relief to craft brewers: The excise duty rate each brewer pays on the first 15,000 hectolitres of beer brewed in Canada will remain cut by half.
Together, these two measures are expected to provide more than $30 million in total relief through to 2028. For a craft brewery, reducing the excise duty rate by half on the first 15,000 hectolitres represents up to about $90,000 in additional tax savings in the 2026-27 fiscal year alone.
Today's extensions will at once better support Saskatchewan's world class brewers, distillers and winemakers; protect Canadian jobs; help mitigate cost pressures; and ensure Canadians can enjoy the best Canada has to offer, with limited tax increases.
