Budget 2023: N.B. small business owners react [Video]

Marc Melanson is starting his peak brewing season.

The owner of Flying Boats Brewing in Dieppe, N.B., is getting ready for the summer, but he’s also been keeping an eye on the federal budget.

He’s happy to see the increase in excise duties on beer being temporarily capped at two per cent starting April 1 instead of the 6.3 per cent increase which was originally planned by the federal government.

“These are little things that all incrementally help because we also have a lot of tax burden on the provincial side,” said Melanson. “We have a lot of increases among our suppliers. Minimum wage is going up next week, so all of these inputs really add up to a larger amount.”

Melanson thinks the federal government has gotten the message.

“They can not continually increase all of these fees without knowledge of how it affects our businesses. Especially in the restaurant and hospitality industry which has been affected quite hard,” said Melanson.

John Wishart, CEO of the …