Canadians thirsty for a ruling on booze
‘I wouldn’t drive all that way just for wine, but when I’m going anyway, it’s worth picking some up.”
That advice was shared years ago by an acquaintance who travelled back and forth between B.C. and Alberta on business. He said he sometimes returned to the coast with a case of wine in the back of his car to restock his personal wine cellar. “It’s cheaper to buy it in Alberta, and there’s often better selection there.”
British Columbians have been able to order wine from any Canadian winery, in person or online, since 2014, provided the amount ordered is appropriate for personal consumption — that is, one case or less — and the wine is made with 100 per cent Canadian juice.
However, many other provinces still restrict the “import” of wine from elsewhere in Canada. As for beer — well, bringing beer from one province to another is still against the law in many parts of Canada.
New Brunswick resident Gerard Comeau found that out in 2012, when he made a quick trip into Quebec to pick up some beer — 14 cases of it, as well as three bottles of liquor. Police stopped him on his way back and issued him a $292.50 ticket for smuggling contraband.
What has ensued is a series of constitutional challenges in the courts.
Comeau challenged the ticket, arguing the prohibition on possessing alcohol purchased outside the province violates Canada’s Constitution Act, 1867. Section 121 of the act states: “All articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of any one of the provinces shall, from and after the union, be admitted free into each of the other provinces.”
A 1921 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that interprets Section 121 has served as the basis for the provincial monopolies on the sale of booze within their jurisdictions. Beverage alcohol falls under provincial jurisdiction. Earning billions in revenue through taxes on the sale of liquor, the provinces don’t wish to see that income disappear.
However, in 2016, New Brunswick’s provincial court ruled in Comeau’s favour.
And now the Supreme Court of Canada is considering Section 121 again. After the New Brunswick Court of Appeal declined to hear the appeal of the New Brunswick decision in R v. Comeau, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear it. The hearing took place in early December.
Industry and trade experts say the court’s ruling — still many months away — could change the way the provinces do business with each other. It could fast-forward the processes for liberalizing trade between provinces, for which the new Canada Free Trade Agreement established the framework last April.
Provincial and territorial governments were among many interveners that presented during the December hearing. As well, a joint submission from dairy, egg and poultry farmers argued that allowing Comeau’s victory to stand “could result in the destruction of supply management — a regulatory system in place for generations, on which the livelihood of thousands of farmers across Canada depends.”
Other industry and consumer groups presented in support of the New Brunswick court decision, arguing for increased liberalization of interprovincial trade. Among these were representatives from five Okanagan wineries, part of a coalition of more than 100 small B.C. wineries seeking to change the law governing interprovincial shipping of wine and liquor across Canada.
They intervened to tell the court about the negative impacts interprovincial barriers have on small B.C. wineries.
Whatever the court decides, Comeau has won in the court of public opinion. In an Ipsos survey last October, 78 per cent of respondents across Canada sided with him. More generally, 89 per cent of respondents across Canada said Canadians should be allowed to bring any legally purchased product from one province to another.
Asked specifically about alcohol, 84 per cent said we should be allowed to order wine directly from a winery in another province, and 79 per cent said we should be allowed to do as Comeau did, but without being fined — that is, bring any amount of beer or wine we buy in one province into another province.