If you browse Quebec’s public markets this summer, you can quench your unquenchable thirst for new discoveries with a local wine, a local cider, a local mead, or even a local pear mistelle, all of which can fetch respectable degrees, but you won’t find any beers from the local microbrewery. Not allowed.
This apparent disparity in the treatment of honest alcoholic beverages is the subject of a denunciation and a campaign by the Association des microbrasseries du Québec (AMBQ) and the Association des marchés publics du Québec (AMPQ), in as part of Quebec Public Markets Week, which takes place from August 3 to 13.
“For a long time, the AMBQ and the AMPQ have been hoping for legislative changes or a new regulation that would finally allow microbreweries to market their products directly on the public market,” says Jean-Nick Trudel, director general of the Association des marchés publics du Quebec.
His association argues that Ontario reviewed its farmer’s market program in 2021 to allow microbrewers to sell their products in recognized public markets.
“We are the last Canadian province to still prohibit the sale of take-out beer within the network of public markets”, insists Jean-Nick Trudel.
He recognizes that access to this market segment will not empty the vats and fill the coffers of microbreweries.
“But we know that it’s still a little more difficult these days and, ultimately, we hope to welcome all Quebec biofood companies to public markets,” he said. These are places that should also belong to them to come and meet customers who are more informed and more sensitive to local products, and also to be able to talk about their company, their brewing techniques and complete the customers’ shopping basket. »
Public markets would also benefit from it.
“For public markets, this represents the rental of additional kiosks, but above all a different loss leader to increase the number of customers interested in public markets,” explains the general manager of the AMPQ.
According to the statistical portrait of the Quebec brewing industry drawn up by the AMBQ in March 2023, 109 brewing companies out of 324, or 34% of microbreweries in Quebec, are located in cities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, throughout the province.
However, the directive of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ), which allows artisanal producers of wines, ciders and other mistelles to sell their products in public markets, tends to favor companies and markets in the south of the province, where the climate is more conducive to fruit production.
As for the network “towards the North Shore, Lac-Saint-Jean, higher up in the Outaouais or Abitibi, the alcoholic beverages that express the terroir go through beer, but their public markets cannot accommodate them” , raises Jean-Nick Trudel. “There is, in our view, a certain form of territorial inequity. »
This is not the first time that the AMPQ and the AMBQ have made this request, but they have come up against the complexities of the regulations and the government apparatus. “We get carried over from one ministry to another, from one person to another,” laments Jean-Nick Trudel.
“Reluctance is in non-action. If the government wanted to do that by regulation, it could. »
Why doesn’t the RACJ directive grant the same permission to microbreweries?
“In fact, the reason is as follows: the directive is based on the artisanal character and the recognition of the status of agricultural producer by the MAPAQ”, explained by email lawyer Joyce Tremblay, spokesperson for the RACJ. “The raw material is produced by the manufacturer himself and it is the principle from the ground to the bottle. Beer makers do not have agricultural status and do not produce their own raw material. »
To grant this permission to microbreweries, “specifically, a legislative amendment would have to be made,” she added over the phone.
The complex legal and regulatory framework of the activities supervised by the RACJ has been developed over the years by the various governments taking into account the public interest, public health, public safety and public tranquility, argues the RACJ.
A change opening the door to microbreweries will have to be studied with the same concerns and with the partners concerned. To know :
If the request is made to it, the RACJ affirms that it will collaborate with all the partners and will make its observations so that an informed decision can be taken by the government.
“We’re listening, rest assured,” said Joyce Tremblay.
It would be easier for all these people to meet around a good local beer to empty a glass… and the question.
It is not because we are in the spas that we soften. Strøm Nordic Spa announces the opening of a fifth spa, this time in Saint-Sauveur, in the Laurentians. In 2022, the company acquired two local spas, Polar Bear’s Club and Bagni Spa Station Santé. The two establishments are a short distance from each other, on either side of the Rivière à Simon. Strøm Nordic Spa plans to connect the two banks by a bridge to allow its customers to cross the river on dry foot and live “an immersive experience”. During a first phase carried out during the summer of 2023, the two establishments will be refurbished according to the standards of Strøm Nordic spa. A second more structural stage will mainly affect the north side of the shore, in 2025. Strøm Nordic Spa will manage the two establishments under its own brand from October 5th. Founded in 2009, Strøm already had establishments on Île des Sœurs, Sherbrooke, Mont-Saint-Hilaire and Old Quebec.
There are names that deserve to be remembered, and not only because of the rarity of the first name. Hermante Ayotte. This is the name of the $50,000 scholarship announced by the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ) to encourage female entrepreneurship. The organization is launching a call for applications for the presentation of the distinction, on October 25 at Windsor Station, on the occasion of the second edition of the Gala Prospérité Québec. The Hermante Ayotte Scholarship will be awarded to a French-speaking entrepreneur from Quebec “who distinguishes herself on the entrepreneurial, social, personal and family level”, majority owner of a Quebec company. The nomination form must be submitted no later than September 6. Originally from New Brunswick, Hermante Ayotte arrived in Montreal at the age of 18. In 1977, she opened the first specialized medical clinic owned by a woman, the Clinique de médecine industrielle et preventive du Québec (CMIPQ), dedicated to occupational health and safety. One of the first mentors in the country, she was the instigator of numerous trade missions to Romania, Hungary and Poland.
To sum up: big leases are big boos for small business owners. This is what is happening in many commercial streets in Quebec, including rue Wellington, in Verdun, where several businesses have recently announced their imminent closure, due to excessive rent increases. The member for Verdun, Alejandra Zaga Mendez, and the person in charge of Quebec solidaire in matters of economy, Haroun Bouazzi, propose two measures to regulate commercial leases and protect small traders from the real estate spiral. They first suggest the creation of a standard commercial lease, similar to that of residential leases. Among other effects, this measure would make unfair terms more difficult. They also recommend the creation of a national register of commercial leases, where each contract would be published. The Quebec land register, where the deeds of sale are already recorded, could be used for this purpose.
The Alliance des boutiques de vapotage du Québec (ABVQ) fears that more than 75% of the province’s approximately 400 vape shops will close their doors by Christmas, due to the ban on flavors and flavors starting October 31 , announced by the Legault government.
