CHARLEBOIS: Canada’s internal-trade charade |
See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source
Canada’s premiers raised a glass to internal trade last week. Nine provinces signed an agreement allowing licensed Canadian wineries, breweries and distilleries to sell directly to consumers across participating jurisdictions. Quebec and Yukon, which helped develop the framework, have not yet joined but say they are working toward implementation. British Columbia, meanwhile, will not have its full system operating until February 2027.
CHARLEBOIS: Canada’s internal-trade charade Back to video
Politically, the announcement sounds consequential. Economically, it is much more modest. Canadians were already ordering alcohol from producers in other provinces, often through a patchwork of exemptions, informal practices and rules that were rarely enforced consistently. The new agreement brings a measure of legitimacy to activity that was already occurring under the radar. What was once ambiguous is now more openly tolerated.
But this is not a duty-free Canadian alcohol market in any meaningful sense. The agreement explicitly preserves each province’s authority to require registrations and licences, impose minimum prices, and collect fees, markups and taxes. Destination provinces can require an out-of-province producer to collect and remit those charges. The agreement itself also states that it creates no legally enforceable obligations. Canada has opened a new pipe between producers and consumers, but every province still controls the valve—and can still charge a toll.
Problem much deeper than direct-to-consumer rules
That matters because market access is about more than legal permission. Provinces must also make........