MONTREAL -- Quebec microbrewers, disappointed with a federal competition bureau inquiry into practices by Molson and Labatt, say they will raise the issue with Justice Minister Martin Cauchon next week. The microbrewers, which hold 4.8 per cent of the Quebec market, contend that Molson and Labatt are squeezing them out of the market by doing such things as buying all the space allotted to displaying beer in stores. The Competition Bureau announced last week it had concluded Labatt and Molson - which hold 90 per cent of the Quebec market - had not impeded competition for beer sales. "I'm very disappointed," Laura Urtnowski, vice-president of the Quebec association of microbrewers, said Monday. "Along with the other microbreweries, we were putting a lot of hope into this, that the Competition Bureau would be able to curb some of these practices that are really doing us so much harm," she told a news conference.

The microbrewers said they will be mulling over their options before they meet with Cauchon and added they may appeal the board's ruling. Imported beer holds the remainder of Quebec's beer market after Molson, Labatt and the microbreweries. Quebec has 11 microbreweries that employ about 650 people.

08 May, 2003