Dan Albas, Member of Parliament for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola is once again pushing to have the gates on cross-country booze shipments opened.
Albas drafted legislation that offers a workaround to interprovincial trade barriers and tabled a private member's bill Tuesday (Dec. 8) that would allow Canada Post to offer direct-to-consumer sales of out-of-province beer, wine and hard liquor from coast to coast to coast.
“Small scale Canadian vintners, distillers and craft brewers should not be shut out of major provincial liquor monopolies because of their size. These small businesses deserve direct access to Canadian consumers via Canada Post,” said MP Albas.
“This Bill is a simple but important solution that provides an economic opportunity to increase revenues while increasing choice for consumers. It is a win-win scenario.”
Albas calls the plan, "buy, ship and sip," and says the legislation would bypass provincial restrictions and offer beer buffs and wine connoisseurs more choice and unlock new markets for producers, particularly smaller operations.
The B.C. parliamentarian says provincially-owned alcohol distributors such as Ontario's LCBO choke off variety, leaving Canadians with more access to U.S. and European products than to those bottled in their own backyards.
“If passed, this legislation will help vintners, distillers and brewers across the country who have been hard hit by the pandemic,” said MP Albas. “Canadian customers should be able to purchase their products directly.”
Albas says the bill makes all the more sense in a digital age when customers are increasingly shopping online.
Currently, four provinces allow direct-to-consumer sales into their jurisdictions: Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and B.C.
