Beer essential to Canada’s economy: report

Here’s a finding few Canadians will contest: Beer is critical to the nation’s economy.

And here’s a statistic to back that up the next time you’re discussing economics at the local pub: Every dollar Canadians spend on beer generates $1.12 for the country, according to a new report from the Conference Board of Canada.

Another quick fact: Canadians bought the equivalent of 235 bottles of beer per person in 2012, the report says.

But it’s not just beer chugging that’s boosting Canada’s economy.

The favourite backyard beverage is also creating jobs and generating billions in annual tax revenues for federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments.

The report, titled From Farm to Glass: The Value of Beer in Canada, says the “beer economy” supports 163,200 jobs across Canada, or 1 out of every 100 spots, and generates $5.8 billion in government revenues.

“When you drink a bottle of beer, you are supporting not only the beer brewing industry directly, but also many other industries along the supply chain — the indirect benefits to the economy of the beer consumption,” says the report, commissioned by Beer Canada.

Not surprisingly, the report notes the size of the brewing industry as being more than three times larger than the wineries and distilleries industries combined.

Still, the findings come as Canadians increasingly turn to wine and liquor instead of beer. While beer is still the most popular, Statistics Canada says wine is selling at a faster pace in Canada. Beer’s market share fell to 44 per cent in 2012, down from 50 per cent in 2002, StatsCan said earlier this year. Meantime, wine’s market share grew to 31 per cent from 24 per cent over the same period. Spirits remained steady at around 25 per cent.

But beer has nothing to fear.

“Beer is still the drink of choice among Canadians, making up 8.1 per cent of the household budget on food and beverages,” says the Conference Board report.

It estimates total beer sales — including at stores and venues across the country — averaged $12.3 billion annually between 2009 and 2011 and that consumption accounted for $13.8 billion annually in economic activity over the same period.

“Canada’s beer economy remains large and far-reaching. Almost every industry in Canada is supported in some way by the beer economy,” the report says.

The biggest consumers per capita are in Yukon, where people drank the equivalent of 385 bottles per person in 2012. That’s well above the average of 235 bottles per person, but includes time at the local pubs by seasonal workers and tourists.

Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and people in the Prairie provinces also consumed more beer than the Canadian average, while those in the Maritimes, Ontario, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut consumed slightly less. British Columbians drank the least amount of beer—the equivalent of 205 bottles per person in 2012, the report says.

The report also comes as some groups are trying to increase access to alcohol sales across the country.

In B.C., a union representing civil servants is pushing to have government liquor stores open on Sundays, alongside private retailers.

In Ontario, the debate is heating up about bringing beer, wine and hard liquor into the province’s convenient stores.