Canadian grapes are a little bit freer after the premiers of Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia committed to what they called âfull and easyâ online purchasing of wine within their three provinces. But one MP says the new agreement doesnât go far enough.
After a premiers meeting in Whitehorse on Friday, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said that, âwithin a number of days, so very soon, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario ⌠is going to be launching an e-commerce site that will allow people in Ontario to buy wine from Quebec and British Columbia directly.â
Wynne said sheâs been working on the change since B.C. Premier Christy Clark brought her a bottle of Osoyoos wine in 2013, to highlight what Clark called âbyzantineâ regulations preventing Ontarians from online ordering from B.C.âs 300+ wineries.
Clark thanked Wynne for her work.
âTo change liquor laws in Ontario is not an easy task,â she said. âItâs a byzantine system thatâs grown up over the years and I donât envy Premier Wynne having to take it on, but I certainly do admire the tenacity sheâs brought to it.â
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard called it âgreat news for our producers and consumersâ and said it was done in the âspirit of free trade.â
Couillard was asked why consumers still wonât be able to order wine online directly from producers. He said that the mandate of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) is being reviewed and âwe are definitely moving in that directionâ but that he didnât want to wait âtwo or three yearsâ to start opening up interprovincial wine sales.
He said other provinces are welcome to join the program too, adding that Nova Scotia seems âquite interested.â
All three premiers said the online ordering is an example of âfreer trade,â although Clark suggested itâs only a partial win. âWe have not freed the grapes completely, but they are freer,â she said.
Conservative MP Dan Albas, who put forward the failed in Parliament last month, commended Clark for pushing her counterparts to open up interprovincial trade, but said he is disappointed by Fridayâs announcement.
âItâs progress but disappointing,â said the MP who represents the winery-laden riding of Central OkanaganâSimilkameenâNicola.
âIt does not support the true free trade of wine,â he added.
Albas said that the LCBO in Ontario recently began allowing consumers to order cases of wine from B.C. vintners, but the process is slow, inconvenient and expensive.
Even if the new e-commerce site is an improvement, Albas said âConservatives contend itâs a Canadian right to be able to trade with other Canadians.â
Albas said consumers in any province should be allowed to contact wineries and have the product delivered to their houses without a provincial middleman like the LCBO or SAQ.
One of the main benefits, in his view, is the potential for Canadian producers to use the domestic markets to âscale upâ to sizes that would make them competitive internationally.
âWe have amazing quality of wines,â Albas said. âBut our industry, compared to most mature wine-producing countries, is extremely small in comparison.â He said seven of 10 bottles currently sold in Canada are imported.
Albas said it âdrives Canadians crazyâ that, at a time when Canada is pushing for free trade with other countries, they donât have free trade with each other.
Premier Clark made a similar point. âIf we canât be free traders amongst us, consumers canât win, taxpayers canât win and our businesses and our industries canât win,â she said.
Earlier at the press conference, Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski also praised free trade.
âIâm really concerned about the protectionist messages that weâre hearing from south of the border, from the United States, from both presidential candidates,â he said.
âNow more than ever we need to really work hard to ensure weâre creating the best opportunity for freer trade in our country,â Pasloski added.
He said free trade grows the economy, âprovides better opportunities to businesses and the benefit to consumers is always keeping prices competitive or lower.â