Why is it so hard to buy booze from another province? Blame trade barriers – National [Video]

Part of Ottawa’s response to the threats of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump so far has been to vow to work on easing interprovincial trade barriers.

Some experts say one sector where consumers often feel the effects of those barriers is the sale and purchase of alcohol across provincial lines.

“It’s easier to get a bottle of wine from Chile than it is (to get one) from British Columbia,” said Matthew Holmes, executive vice-president and chief of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

He added that even in provinces like Alberta, where private sellers of alcohol are prominent, the province still controls the alcohol that comes in and how it’s purchased.

“Mr. Trump is reminding Canadians of how dysfunctional our confederation is economically,” Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, said.

Charlebois said this makes Canadian winemakers and brewers overly reliant on the U.S.

“Nova Scotia, Ontario and B.C. — …