‘We really make it easy to become trade targets’: Internal trade barriers still limiting Canadian booze sales between provinces

OTTAWA — What is the easiest way to get B.C. wine into Ontario? You might need to book a plane ticket to Australia.

It’s an extreme case but that’s what Robbie Raskin, owner of Archives Wine and Spirit Merchants, did when he fell in love with a bottle of vermouth from a local producer in Vancouver Island, B.C., because he could not ship the wine to Ontario due to provincial trade restrictions.

Raskin didn’t want to run afoul of the authorities, given the producer was afraid to “antagonize” the LCBO, having been told that trying to circumvent these rules could end them up on an LCBO blacklist, he said.

But, because the producer had a retailer in Australia, Raskin was able to purchase the wine a few months later while visiting a friend in Sydney. When headed back home, he declared the wine at the border. This was, technically, the only legal way for Raskin to get his beloved vermouth home to Ontario.

U.S. wine products have been removed from the LCBO’s shelves since March 2025, but these empty spaces only highlight the lack of B.C. wines on local shelves.

At this time when the federal government seems to advocate for pro-Canadian products amidst U.S. trade barriers, there are still discrepancies in the selection of national products as a result of interprovincial trade barriers.

“There are great things, not just from B.C., from next door in Quebec, that just can’t be sold,” Raskin said. “It’s extremely frustrating for me, personally, as someone who’s big idea was to feature Canadian wine.”

All alcohol imports outside of Ontario must be made through the LCBO, which brings the product into its warehouse, charges a markup on it, and then sells it to the consumer, often by the case.

“The whole process is often impossible,” Raskin said. “You’re sort of stuck in this situation where products from B.C. are treated no differently than an import from outside the country.”

Raskin said that he recently visited his local LCBO and he noticed that there were only three B.C. wines available, while seventeen out of sixty-six could be purchased through the LCBO website, with most availability limited.

Last year was when Canada started to realize it had thirteen separate economies, rather than one big domestic market, said Ryan Manucha, a research fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute.

Although there has been progress with a national agreement among the provinces on direct-to-consumer (DTC) alcohol sales, which aims to finalize DTC alcohol sales nationwide by May 2026, only Manitoba and Nova Scotia have signed deals with Ontario.

It is important that provinces meet the expectations laid out in the national agreement by May so that the government can achieve items on its internal trade file, said Manucha. “It’s a reflection of a lot of patchwork that needs to be addressed across Canada.”

This reality seems strange in a world where people can order products on Amazon or DoorDash easier than ordering alcohol from B.C. to Ontario, he added.

Two-way trade with the United States is valued at around $1 trillion per year while interprovincial trade is valued at over $500 billion per year, Manucha noted.

Removing internal trade barriers suggests a seven per cent boost in Canada’s yearly GDP, which translates to more than $200 billion a year. It’s nothing to sneer at, said Manucha.

This is an opportunity to revisit decisions as local and domestic economies are fragmented by the forces of globalization, he said.

“There’s the principle of being one Canadian economy and it being reflected in our booze trade. . . I would hope to see an implemented regime where it is seamless,” Manucha added.

It was not until the Trump administration started threatening tariffs that Canada finally put a spotlight on interprovincial trade, said Michael Magnusson, the executive director of Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce.

It would be “silly” not to take advantage of interprovincial trade with the expected economic growth it would impose, Magnusson said. “We really make it easy to become trade targets. . . we have an easier time trading with Europe than we do with ourselves.”

The hoops that wineries must go through to have products approved in other provinces is taxing. Commercial wineries have the scale and financial resources to go through the multi-year process of getting products approved, while smaller wineries would rather pursue smaller markets, even if transportation costs go up, said Magnusson.

Even after this process, it is not guaranteed that a product will be approved by the neighbouring jurisdiction.

Aaron Dobbin, president of Wine Growers Ontario, said that he hopes to see more provinces continue to sign DTC sales agreements.

“What Nova Scotia and Ontario were able to accomplish, from my perspective, sets an excellent template to be replicated across the country on a bilateral basis,” Dobbin said.

Although Dobbin appreciates the spotlight on local wines in Ontario, as it generates jobs and sales within the industry, he equally prioritizes interprovincial sales, he said.

DTC sales play a big role in tourism, Dobbin said. For example, someone from Halifax visits Prince Edward County and finds a bottle of wine they want to bring home, they can ship that product to their front door, whereas a tourist from Quebec can’t.

“After decades and decades of talk, we now have a template that is workable. . . This is the way to get it done,” Dobbin said.

National Post

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