March 22, 2013

Federal Government Tariff Reductions

BACKGROUND:

As you are aware, the Federal Finance Minister in his budget last week announced a number of tariff reductions specifically around sporting goods. Bikes were not included in the minister's announcement or the initial list of tariff eliminations.

 The Finance Minister tasked the Senate of Canada's Finance Committee in 2011/12 to review the reasons for price differences between Canada and the USA. After more than a year of review and discussions, the Senate made a series of recommendations to the Minister including the possible identified tariffs as an issue and one that required attention if prices were to be reduced in Canada.

 As a result of the recommendations from the Senate, the Finance Minister agreed to announce a "pilot project" to identify products with high tariffs and little or no Canadian production. The Minister and federal government have made it clear that the pilot is a first step and that other announcements will follow if retailers, wholesalers and distributors pass on the savings to the consumer.

 Although BTAC was very disappointed bikes were not included in the initial "pilot", we will aggressively lobby the government on the need to bikes in future reductions and eliminations. In addition, we will be seeking a meeting with Ministry officials and politicians to present our case.

ACTION REQUIRED:

We will be in contact with all BTAC members shortly with a draft letter to the Finance Minister on our disappointment that bikes were not included in his announcement. We are also working on a political lobby post card campaign. Additional details will be provided shortly.

 As we will also reach out to local MP's, we would appreciate you letting us know if you have a relationship with your local MP. Once we have our messaging developed, we will ask members to request a meeting with their member of parliament to present our case.

 We appreciate your support and look forward to working with you on this campaign. "Together we are Better"!!!

Contact:

Bill Yetman

byetman@btac.org