John Cote is raising a glass to much of Canada opening up alcohol sales across provincial borders. “Now we’re off to the races,” Cote, the co-founder and COO of Black Fox Farm and Distillers, said. “Now we can legally ship across a provincial border.” On Tuesday, nine provinces signed an agreement to allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales during the First Ministers Meetings in Charlottetown, P.E.I. The memorandum of understanding removes major barriers to interprovincial sales of alcohol and makes way for provincial rules to allow companies to sell directly to consumers, regardless of where they live. “Your provincial borders just kind of got forgotten over the years, and nobody noticed,” Cote said. Black Fox has earned an international reputation after winning prestigious awards in the gin and whiskey industry in recent years. Those successes have allowed the company to enter multiple international markets, but shipping a case of whiskey to Vancouver wasn’t allowed. “We export to six different countries around the world, and we’ve always exported it because it’s actually simpler than going to different provinces. So, if we can even that playing field, now we can concentrate more on the Canadian market.” The most immediate impact for Cote will be opening up Black Fox’s online store to customers outside of Saskatchewan. Many details are being sorted out in the weeks and months ahead, which will determine how it impacts the industry beyond that. Cote and other brewers or distillers say this agreement has been a long time in the making, and many people are unaware of the vast sets of rules that exist between provinces. “Very, very rigid detailed rules from province to province,” Rebellion Brewery CEO Mark Heise said. “The general public has no idea that that even happens, and when they do hear that it happens, they just think it’s absolutely crazy.” The deal signed by Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador is being seen as a lot more than relaxing alcohol regulations Heise considers outdated. It’s about the start of removing red tape that can unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in internal trade in Canada. “I think it opens up the door for more advancement in other sectors and opens up more opportunities,” Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce CEO Prabha Ramaswamy said. “This is a very significant milestone.” In January, the International Monetary Fund published a report saying the Canadian economy could gain roughly seven per cent, or $210 billion, by removing existing internal trade barriers. Ramaswamy says these regulations are the equivalent of a nine per cent tariff. While Tuesday’s announcement only affected alcohol sales, it could be the first of many similar agreements. “This really is our government’s moving in the right direction to create one economy in Canada as opposed to 13 separate markets,” she said. While Cote and Heise are celebrating one less hurdle to overcome, Ramaswamy is optimistic the political will seen across the country from provincial leaders will continue to benefit the Canadian economy.
