Toronto, ON — February 20, 2026 — Beer Canada today welcomed new support from Teamsters Canada, which has formally called on the federal government to repeal the automatic annual increase to federal excise taxes on beer, adding significant momentum to a growing national coalition of labour organizations advocating for Canadian brewery workers.
Last week, 13 local union leaders representing workers across Canada jointly urged the Prime Minister to eliminate the automatic beer tax escalator. With the addition of Teamsters Canada representing more than 130,000 workers nationwide, including approximately 2,000 brewery workers, the call to act continues to strengthen.
In a letter released February 19, Teamsters Canada warned that continued automatic excise tax increases threaten Canadian brewing jobs at a time of rising costs and economic uncertainty, noting that the tax has increased every year since 2017 without debate or a vote in Parliament.
“Workers across Canada’s brewing sector are making it clear: automatic tax increases put good union jobs at risk,” said Richard Alexander, President of Beer Canada. “The momentum we are seeing from organized labour reflects the real economic pressure facing breweries, their employees, and communities across the country” he added.
“Affordability starts with ending automatic tax hikes on beer,” said Richard Alexander, President of Beer Canada. “Canadians already shoulder the highest beer taxes in the G7. The Federal beer tax escalator keeps prices climbing and strains consumers, brewers, and the hospitality sector at a time when affordability is a major concern.”
Canada’s federal beer excise duty is scheduled to increase again on April 1 under the automatic inflation-based escalator mechanism. Beer Canada continues to stress that these increases come at a time when affordability remains a top concern for Canadians and when breweries are facing sustained cost pressures across ingredients, packaging, transportation, and labour.
The growing alignment between industry and labour underscores the broad economic impact of the brewing sector, which supports farmers, manufacturers, logistics workers, hospitality employees, and communities nationwide. “This is no longer only an industry issue, it is a workers’ issue,” said Alexander. “We are seeing strong and growing momentum from unions representing tens of thousands of Canadians. We encourage all Members of Parliament to take note and act.”
Beer Canada is calling on all federal parties to work together to cancel the upcoming April 1 increase and permanently repeal automatic annual excise tax hikes on beer.
The letter sent to the Prime Minister by the Teamsters is available here: https://teamsters.ca/blog/2026/02/19/it-is-time-to-turn-words-into-action-for-brewery-workers/
ABOUT BEER CANADA
Beer Canada is the national inclusive voice advocating on behalf of Canadian brewers of all sizes and regions and Canadian beer consumers.
Beer Canada’s member companies brew 90% of all beer consumed by Canadians annually. Brewers directly contribute $2.6 billion annual to Canada's GDP, more than two and a half times more to Canada’s GDP than wine and spirits producers combined.
Across beer's valued-added supply chain, the production, distribution and sale of beer supports 149,000 Canadian jobs, generates $13.6 billion in Gross Domestic Product and $5.7 billion in government tax revenues.
Beer Canada promotes moderate and responsible consumption by those of the legal age and is the authoritative source for data and information on the Canadian beer industry.
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