B.C. premier's suggested ban on American alcohol draws mixed reactions
Alcohol industry leaders say ban may promote B.C.-made products, but could also hurt businesses
B.C. Premier David Eby's recent suggestion of potentially halting the import of American alcohol into the province has drawn mixed reactions from industry experts and the hospitality sector.
The move, floated earlier this week, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports as early as Feb. 1.
The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB), the province's monopoly liquor buyer, imports alcohol from the United States and supplies it to B.C.'s restaurants, bars, pubs, private liquor stores and government outlets.
"Our decision not to purchase American alcohol would definitely send a message," Eby said at a Jan. 21 news conference. "It is one of the things that could be on the table to respond to these tariffs."
For Tyler Dyck, CEO of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery, the proposal represents an opportunity for consumers to embrace B.C.-made wine and spirits.
"If you stop or slow down American spirits or wine coming in, you force British Columbians to look at the wealth of what they have in their own backyard," he told CBC News.
Dyck, who is also the president of the Craft Distillers Guild of B.C., says B.C.-made spirits can rarely compete with most international and U.S. brands that dominate the shelves of local liquor stores.
One of the reasons, he emphasized, is the disparity in excise taxes between the two nations.
"[The] U.S. lowered their excise rate to stimulate production and ... about a thousand new distilleries have started there in the last five years."
Canada's annual alcohol excise tax on beer, wine and spirits increased by two per cent last year, although it was initially set to rise by 4.7 per cent.
Industry groups express concerns
Not everyone in the industry agrees with Dyck.
Jeff Guignard, executive director of the B.C. Alliance of Beverage Licensees, says cutting off U.S. imports could hurt businesses and reduce selection for consumers.
"And because there are single vineyards in the U.S. larger than our entire wine industry, they benefit from economies of scale that we simply don't have," he said, noting that this allows larger producers to offer lower price points.
"We could probably replace those products," he said, but that would mean substituting them with options from Europe or other regions, that are more expensive to import.
"Our industry is quite small compared to companies like Jack Daniel's in the U.S., so we would not be able to deal with that higher demand just based on domestic products."
According to Ian Tostenson, president of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association, restaurants, pubs and hotels sell about a million bottles of California wine annually.
"It would be a substantial hit to us, but would it be a game changer? No," he said.
"If there was a trade war, then we'll have to shift and we would probably shift to France, Italy, but the problem is they take longer to get here, a bit more costly."
He also says it's unlikely that restaurants are looking to stockpile American alcohol or source it from Alberta, where Premier Danielle Smith has advocated for diplomacy over "retaliation."
"As a restaurant, we are not allowed to buy from Alberta, we have to buy from government liquor stores in B.C.," Tostenson said.
Addressing interprovincial trade barriers
Richard Barichello, a professor of food and resource economics at the University of B.C., suggests that Canada should focus on reducing interprovincial trade barriers to better withstand external trade pressures.
"Things we should have done long ago ourselves," he said in an emailed statement to CBC News.
"There are many policies and regulations that impede innovation and prevent us from achieving improved productivity in Canada. As serious effort on these would help the country greatly, as an offset to the Trump tariffs."
There are restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages to customers in other provinces and, while the federal government in 2019 removed the requirement for alcohol to pass through provincial liquor authorities, provinces can still impose their own restrictions.
More recently, Alberta briefly halted the sale of B.C. wines in 2023. But thanks to a new agreement between the two provinces, B.C. wineries can ship directly to Alberta consumers starting this month. The agreement will run for one year and be evaluated for effectiveness.
As a possible trade war with the U.S. looms, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers have said they are trying to dismantle long-standing internal barriers to make it easier to trade goods across provincial borders.
In the meantime, Eby is asking British Columbians to consider altering other buying habits as well, suggesting they check labels to support Canadian-made products.
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With files from CBC's The Early Edition