The last couple of weeks have been tumultuous for Canada with on again/off again threats of tariffs from the U.S. President. However, the turbulence has also shone a light on our own internal problems, and particularly upon those related to the persistence of internal trade barriers such as the inability of most Canadian consumers to legally purchase alcohol from producers and retailers in other provinces.
As most Canadians will remember, there was a hope that this specific problem would be solved in 2018 when the Supreme Court of Canada considered the issue in the case of R. v. Comeau, in which Gerard Comeau was charged after purchasing alcohol in Quebec and bringing it back to his home province of New Brunswick. His legal counsel argued that the restrictive provincial laws were invalid because the Constitution guarantees that products produced in one province “shall be admitted free into each of the other Provinces”. Mr. Comeau won the case at the trial level. Unfortunately, (and tragically in hindsight) the Supreme Court overruled the trial court. They declined to recognize the plain meaning of these words and, instead, upheld provincial restrictions that prevented Mr. Comeau (and other Canadians) from shopping for alcohol in another province.
At the time, Andrew Coyne (who was then writing for the National Post) called out the Supreme Court’s “baffling” decision and asked what was the worst part of it: was it “the shoddy reasoning, the tendentious reading of simple declarative statements, the selective approach to history, the willful naivete?”. I commend anyone interested to read his full analysis here: “Supreme Court beer ruling ties the constitution in knots, and the economy with it”. It’s hard to disagree with any of Mr. Coyne’s criticisms. Indeed, many of them are prescient of the situation we now find ourselves in.
The bottom line is that this was an awful decision on many levels. Canada now desperately needs to rid itself of this ruling and escape the economic straightjacket that it creates for us. Federal and provincial governments alike have professed to take action on this issue for years but very little progress has been made – mostly because the provinces like their absolute control over the money that liquor sales generates for them. It is far past time to fix things and throw these silly restrictions into the dustbin of embarrassing regulatory trash that has burdened us for so long.
The federal minister responsible for internal trade, Anita Anand, commented last week that we could possibly see the end of these restrictions “in 30 days” … with meetings scheduled between the various levels of government to address this. I remain optimistic but am not holding my breath due to the long history of much talk and no action. The feds and provinces need to deliver on this … please get it done. Let us join the rest of the world and eliminate all barriers to the interprovincial alcohol market.
Also … see my discussion with Tania Tomaszewska on this issue here: Blocking Our Own Wine – What Happened to Free Trade