Quebec Solidaire MNAs Christine Labrie and Vincent Marissal spoke at the Depot Street Siboire microbrewery in Sherbrooke on Thursday afternoon, calling on the provincial government to lend its support to Quebec’s brewing industry.
“Microbreries are the poster boy for the Panier Bleu,” said Marissal, the member of the National Assembly for Rosemont and his party’s critic on matters relating to the economy, referring to the buy-local program launched by Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon earlier this spring. “They have it all: local products, local jobs, revitalization, taste, tradition. They are a part of Quebec’s DNA.”
Marissal and Labrie said that upon hearing from businesses within the Province’s brewing industry they were convinced that a few “easy amendments” to the more than 30 different laws that govern the industry would allow microbreweries to become key players in regional development.
“Unlike vineyards, which can sell their products directly to consumers and deliver them, microbrewers cannot,” Labrie said, calling the current legislative framework “inconsistent,” while Marissal referred to it as a net that is holding small businesses back.
