Unhappy wine industry asks why wine was left out of interprovincial trade agreement
after the alcohol has been taken out of a deal this week Remove interprovincial trade barriers Some in the wine industry say they’re surprised and disappointed — and they’ve waited a long time for change across the provinces.
Signed on Wednesday by the provinces, territories and federal government, agreement promises To lift restrictions on the free movement of certain goods across Canada.
However, food and alcohol were conspicuously omitted from the list – the latter industry advocated for a long time To overcome obstacles, long time ago The American tariff inspired a national campaign to facilitate free trade between provinces.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” said Adin Weiner, managing partner of Henderson Brewing Co., a brewery, taproom and bottle shop in Toronto. “We must be one country, especially in terms of tariffs.”
He added, “I have a lot of friends who have breweries that are no longer shipping to the states and we were really looking forward to shipping to other markets.”
While some provinces say they will simplify direct-to-consumer wine sales between provinces by next spring, the industry is growing impatient, and one expert doubts that will happen at all.
‘We’ve been talking about this for years’
Canada’s alcohol industry faces many economic constraints.
Consumers, especially youth, drinking lessLike other businesses, the cost of inputs has increased with inflation, And for beer makers, price of aluminum cans Has increased with US tariffs.
According to Weiner, interprovincial trade barriers add another layer of complications. That could mean additional shipping costs between provinces, different packaging requirements and different pricing structures for wine outside the province, he said.
It may take some time to resolve all those situations. “By the time they put it on the shelf, it was two months old,” he said.
In July, nine provinces and one territory (except Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Newfoundland and Labrador) signed a memorandum of understanding on direct-to-consumer liquor sales, with the intention of removing those barriers by May 2026.
“It’s not really a firm commitment. Given that we’ve had commitments like this before, we always say nothing is done until it’s done,” said Jeff Guignard, CEO of WineBC, an organization that advocates for winemakers in British Columbia.
“I understand the rules are complicated, but we haven’t been talking about this for weeks. We’ve been talking about this for years,” he said. “Our industry is waiting, and it is having a serious impact.”
Despite the ‘roll up’ and ‘buy Canadian’ buzz going on across the country, some businesses say it’s not enough to boost revenue. Some Alberta wine producers say more needs to be done to make it easier and more profitable to sell their products in other provinces.
BC wine producers have the opportunity to choose Alberta specifically. their neighboring province was added ad valorem tax According to Guignard, on wine products sold to Albertans in April, that has made out-of-province, winery-to-consumer shipments more expensive.
“Now is the time to remove these interprovincial barriers and allow the free movement of Canadian wines between provinces,” he said.
CBC News contacted the Privy Council Office to ask why the provinces couldn’t come to an agreement including alcohol. A representative did not respond by deadline.
Economists say provinces are running in circles
By excluding wine from the agreement, the provinces are repeating the same steps that led to interprovincial trade barriers in the first place, argued Moshe Lander, a senior lecturer in the economics department at Concordia University in Montreal.
“Along the way, each province said, ‘Okay, I want a carving for this and I want a carving for that.’ And the next thing you know, we have this maze of exclusions and exemptions that make those interprovincial barriers so harmful,” Lander said.
It’s likely the provinces are in consensus, he said, that because of the revenue earned from provincially regulated retailers such as Ontario’s LCBO, the SAQ in Quebec and the NSLC in Nova Scotia, alcohol should not be included in any free trade agreement, at least for the time being.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government signaled Monday it’s willing to bend when it comes to removing trade barriers with other provinces, but as CBC’s Terry Roberts reports, there are still plenty of lines in the sand to protect local jobs and products — especially when it comes to the brewing industry.
For example, CBC News got last year The LCBO generates approximately $2.5 billion annually for the province as a retailer and wholesaler (although it is possible that this number has changed since Ontario Premier Doug Ford allowed convenience stores to sell alcohol).
Lander explained, “Alcohol is still, directly or indirectly, a state monopoly that generates money for the province. And so removing those barriers threatens their ability to make money. Because now they face more competition than they otherwise would.”
“If you ask anyone in the Annapolis Valley, they’ll tell you that having an Ontario winery in Niagara on the shelves of Nova Scotia would put an end to them. Ontario would say a little competition would be beneficial to you. It would improve your game,” he adds.
Additionally, regional winemakers — from wine growers in B.C.’s Okanagan to craft brewers in Newfoundland to gin distilleries in Quebec — could be a boon for local jobs and tourism, which the province will want to preserve, Lander said.
While Guignard and Weiner say some progress has been made on the issue, Lander isn’t so optimistic that the obstacles will be overcome.
“It could happen, but I don’t think it will happen,” he said. “And I think part of the problem is that there has to be political will among 14 people at the same time.”
