An unhappy booze industry asks why alcohol was left out of interprovincial trade agreement

After alcohol was excluded from a deal this week to drop interprovincial trade barriers, some in the booze industry say they're perplexed and disappointed — and that they've waited long enough for provinces to make the change.

Signed on Wednesday by the provinces, territories and federal government, the agreement promises to remove restrictions on the free movement of some goods across Canada. 

However, food and alcohol were conspicuously left off the list — the latter industry having long advocated for the removal of the barriers, well before U.S. tariffs spurred a national campaign to make free trade between the provinces easier.

“I am hugely disappointed,” said Adin Wener, managing partner of Henderson Brewing Company, a brewery, taproom and bottle shop in Toronto. “We should be one country, especially in the face of tariffs."

“I have lots of friends who have breweries that are no longer shipping to the States and we were really looking forward to other markets to ship to," he added.

While some provinces say they'll simplify direct-to-consumer alcohol sales between provinces by next spring, the industry is growing impatient, and one expert doubts it'll happen at all.

Canada's alcohol industry has been dealing with a number of economic headwinds.

Consumers, especially young people, are drinking less; as with other businesses, the cost of inputs have gone up with inflation; and for beermakers, the price of aluminum cans has gone up with U.S. tariffs.

Interprovincial trade barriers add another layer of complications, according to Wener. That might mean extra shipping costs between provinces, different packaging requirements and different pricing structures for out-of-province alcohol, he said.

Getting all of those conditions sorted out can take a while. "By the time they put it on a shelf, it could already be two months old," he said.

Back in July, nine provinces and one territory (excluding Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Newfoundland and Labrador) signed a memorandum of understanding on direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, with the intention of removing those barriers by May 2026.

"It's not really a firm commitment. Given that we've had these kind of commitments before, we always say nothing's done until it's done," said Jeff Guignard, the CEO of WineBC, an organization that advocates for winemakers across British Columbia.

"I understand the regulations are complicated, but we haven't been talking about this for weeks. We've been talking about this for years," he added. "Our industry has been waiting, and it's having a serious impact."

B.C. wine producers have a bone to pick with Alberta, especially. Their neighbouring province added an ad valorem tax on wine products sold to Albertans in April, which has made out-of-province, winery-to-consumer shipments more expensive, according to Guignard.