Federal Budget Promises to Remove Wine Shipping Restriction
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- Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken
- Category: Latest News Latest News
- Published: 19 March 2019 19 March 2019
The Federal Budget 2019 was tabled in Ottawa today. Of note to the wine (and alcohol) industry, the Budget Document promises at p.119 to change the federal law (the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act or "IILA") that restricts the shipment of alcohol between provinces. Specifically, it states:
To facilitate internal trade, the Government intends to remove the federal requirement that alcohol moving from one province to another be sold or consigned to a provincial liquor authority. Provinces and territories would continue to be able to regulate the sale and distribution of alcohol within their boundaries.
This promise has the potential to positively impact the regulatory restrictions that currently prevent consumers from purchasing wine or other alcohol from other provinces. The federal restriction is a core part of the regulatory regime that prevents DTC sales and shipment and if the federal restrictions are changed, then DTC could conceivably become easier. The devil is in the details ... and, of course, in whether this promise results in actual legislative changes (particularly given the fact that an election is looming). Don't hold your breath ... but hang tight for the details and cross those fingers.
Symposium on Canadian Wine in Global Markets
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- Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken
- Category: Latest News Latest News
- Published: 05 February 2019 05 February 2019
The upcoming Vancouver International Wine Festival's trade conference will host a symposium on February 27th dedicated to discussing the place of Canadian wine in global wine markets. This should be a fascinating discussion moderated by WineFest keynote speaker, Jon Bonne, and including panelists Chris Coletta (OK Crush Pad), Nik Darlington (UK importer), Janet Dorozynski (Trade Commission, Global Affairs Canada), Dr. Jamie Goode (UK wine writer and academic), as well as Sebastien LeGoff (well-known sommelier and director of Cactus Club's wine program). There are many other excellent events of interest to the trade all of which are listed on the WineFest's trade conference agenda here.
BC Wine & Liquor Law Conference Feb 25th
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- Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken
- Category: Latest News Latest News
- Published: 07 January 2019 07 January 2019
The annual BC Wine & Liquor law conference will be held on Monday February 25th in Vancouver, which is the beginning of the week of the Vancouver International Wine Festival. Great line-up of topics and speakers this year including analysis of this year's liquor policy priorities from government, a report on the work of the Business Technical Advisory Panel, an update on interprovincial shipping, international trade developments, and a summary of the progress being made on geographical indicators in BC. As this will be the 10th anniversary of the conference, there will also be a special closing address from industry pioneer, Harry McWatters. Full details of the conference including registration links are here: BC Wine & Liquor Law Conference. Chris Wilson and myself will be chairing this year's conference.
There is a "50% off" discount for wine industry members: if you use the online registration form, change the Rate on the form (dropdown box) from "regular" to "industry member" and the reduced conference fee will apply.
BC Wineries Approve Naramata Bench Sub-GI
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- Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken
- Category: Latest News Latest News
- Published: 27 November 2018 27 November 2018
The proposal to create a sub-geographical indicator for the Naramata Bench area in the Okanagan has received approval from those wineries and growers who qualified to vote. The BC Wine Authority has issued the results here: Naramata Bench Ballot Results. The Yes vote ranged from 71% to 81% in favour depending upon the categorization of the results. However, in all cases, it exceeded the minimum 2/3 threshold required for approval. The BCWA will now submit a report and recommendation to the Minister of Agriculture.
New Liquor Trade Challenge: Alberta vs Ontario
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- Written by Mark Hicken Mark Hicken
- Category: Latest News Latest News
- Published: 26 November 2018 26 November 2018
The Alberta Government has indicated that it is filing a trade challenge (presumably under the Agreement on Internal Trade) aimed at opening up the Ontario market for small liquor manufacturers from Alberta. The news release (Trade Challenge Launched to Support Small Brewers) indicates that only 20 Alberta products are currently sold in Ontario while 745 Ontario products are sold in Alberta.
At the same time, Alberta has indicated that it is canceling its Small Brewer Development Program which provided grants to small local breweries. This program (and an earlier preferential markup system) were the subject of legal challenges, two of which found that the programs discriminated against out-of-province producers by providing financial incentives to small in-province manufacturers. In its place, Alberta will introduce a volume-based "universal small producer" markup such that small producers from anywhere can receive lower markup if they produce less than 50,000 hectoliters of annual worldwide production.
One of the earlier legal decisions was the Steam Whistle case which applied reasoning set out in the Supreme Court of Canada's Comeau decision (previously discussed on this blog). The Alberta government had previously indicated that they would appeal Steam Whistle. While there is no mention of the appeal in the news release, it appears from these developments that the Alberta government has determined that it cannot implement preferential markups and is now switching to a non-discriminatory markup system.