Supreme Court decision puts cork in Niagara wine industry hopes
The Supreme Court has voted unanimously in favour of leaving provincial trade barriers to alcoholic beverages unchallenged
IT’S DIFFICULT to imagine how successful Niagara wineries might be if inter-provincial trade barriers were eliminated.
“We don’t know what the impact would be because this has been our reality for as long as wineries have been in place,” said Winery and Grower Alliance of Ontario president and chief executive officer Aaron Dobbin.
He said the recent case of New Brunswick man Gerard Comeau — stopped by the RCMP and fined $292.50 for transporting 14 cases of beer and three bottles of booze across the border from Quebec — gave the industry hope that laws would finally change.
Comeau won a local court case, arguing that provincial trade barriers contravene section 121 of the Constitution Act of 1867, which states that products from any province can be admitted “free into each of the other provinces.”
But that hope was dashed Thursday morning when Canada’s top court overturned Comeau’s win.
In its ruling, nine Supreme Court judges voted unanimously in favour of the Crown’s appeal, ultimately leaving provincial trade barriers unchallenged.
Dobbin called the decision a lost opportunity for Canadian wine producers, as well as consumers.
“This was an opportunity that just wasn’t taken up by the Supreme Court, so we’re quite disappointed,” he said.
It was also disappointing to people across Canada who continue to face limits in the amount of alcohol they can import from other parts of the country, he added.
“If you’re in Saskatchewan and you want to buy a case of wine (from out of province) and ship it to Saskatchewan, you can’t do that,” he said.
Although Grape Growers of Ontario chief executive officer Debbie Zimmerman shared the disappoint-
ment, she said it wasn’t unexpected.
“In a way we knew this was going to be an issue because of the jurisdiction of each of the provincial governments, and constitutionally they have been delegated the right to make those decisions,” she said, adding it is part of a “broader constitutional discussion that is going to have to happen.”
“We are disappointed. We want people to have access to our products,” Zimmerman said.
“I think it’s going to take the provinces getting together to come up with an agreement on what they should be doing. It’s kind of like having a free trade discussion in your own country.”
St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle
“It’s going to take the provinces getting together to come up with an agreement.”
DEBBIE ZIMMERMAN
Grape Growers of Ontario
said he’d love to see Niagara wineries benefit by being able to have more access to other provinces. But the issue needs to be resolved by “governments working together,” he said.
“It’s not something that the federal government can just pass a law and make happen.
“It’s something we are attempting to provide leadership on, but ultimately it will have to be an agreement between the provinces. It’s something we’re moving towards. It’s something we are working on, but it will require an agreement between the provinces.” Although the Canadian Free Trade Agreement came into effect last summer, alcoholic beverages were not included in that agreement. Instead, an Alcoholic Beverages Working Group was established to address that unresolved issue, and is expected to provide recommendations by July 1. Dobbin said those recommendations might provide another opportunity for change.
“That’s the next big opportunity for the provinces to take up the mantle and fix this situation,” he said.
“Nowhere else in the world in wine-making countries are domestic wineries prohibited from directly selling to the citizens of the country.”
Allan.Benner@niagaradailies.com