The head of the Wine Growers of Ontario says the federal budget contained a 'sigh of relief' for wine producers.
President and CEO Aaron Dobbin explains the federal government is promising a two year, $101 million program to help wine producers cope with the loss of a tax exemption.
"We were facing the potential of losing about 2,400 jobs in our industry. That was going to account for almost 7 million litres of Canadian wine that would have been at risk."
The excise tax exemption was first announced in 2006 to help spur on local producers, but Australia challenged the boon at the World Trade Organization and Canada agreed to repeal the tax exemption as of the end of June next year.
The Australians had argued the exemption gave Canadian wine makers an unfair at-home advantage over the Aussies.
Dobbin says the end of the exemption will mean Canadian producers will take a hit of approximately 67 cents per litre.