BuyShipSip
Central Okanagan – Similkameen – Nicola MP Dan Albas is once again pushing to lower the barriers to cross-country liquor shipments.
Albas has drafted legislation that offers a workaround to interprovincial trade barriers and has tabled a private member's bill 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 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 BC 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.