Restaurateurs, winemakers disappointed with Supreme Court ruling

Local brewers, winemakers and restaurateurs say they're left with a bitter taste in their mouths after the country's top court upheld rules allowing for the restricted movement of alcohol across provincial borders.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled provinces have the constitutional right to limit the importation of goods like alcohol from another province, as long as the restrictions aren't primarily intended to impede trade.

Thursday's ruling will dash the hopes of many Canadians who were hoping to have easier access to cheaper and sought-after products in neighbouring provinces, particularly alcohol and tobacco.

"I'm really disappointed at today's ruling," said Stephen Beckta, who runs a trio of upscale Ottawa restaurants — Gezellig, Play Food and Wine, and the eponymous Beckta.

Under the current regulatory regime, Beckta said, it's "almost impossible" for Canadian restaurants to offer wines from other provinces to their patrons without a significant markup.

"It is easier to buy a bottle of wine from South Africa than it is to buy a bottle of wine from across our river," Beckta said.

"For us to put great B.C. or Nova Scotia wines on our wine list, we have to pay a huge duty. And that winery has to have a representative in Ontario that brokers the wine through the LCBO. It prices it out of the market."

Only four of the roughly 300 wines on offer at Beckta are Canadian vintages from outside Ontario, he added.

'I'm hoping it'll change'

Wineries are among the industries disappointed by Thursday's ruling, as they'd been hoping the rules would be loosened enough so they could offer direct-to-consumer wine sales across the country.

Only three provinces — B.C., Manitoba and Nova Scotia — allow such sales now.

"I'm hoping it'll change," said Tom Moul, chief winemaker at Jabulani Vineyard and Winery in rural southwest Ottawa.

Roughly five per cent of Jabulani's wine requests come from people living in other provinces, Moul said.

For now, those customers are limited to purchasing their wines in-person at the vineyard — and Moul said he's not about to ask if they're spiriting those bottles across provincial borders.

"Canada's seeking free trade with countries next door to them, but they can't allow us free trade internally," he said. "Which is sad."

'Bizarre and oppressive and sad'

There are also breweries disappointed by Thursday's ruling, especially in Ottawa, where a substantial number of beer drinkers from Gatineau, Que., come to stock up.

"We have a number of customers that come across the river to get our beer," said Rob McIsaac, co-founder of Ottawa's Beyond the Pale brewery.

"Tell you what — I'm not going to tell them [it's illegal]."

Steve Beauchesne, the founder of Beau's All-Natural Brewing Company in Vankleek Hill, Ont., also lambasted Thursday's ruling.

"I think it's sad," said Beauchesne, whose brewery is about 10 kilometres south of the Quebec border.

"The thought that any province would tell a citizen of Canada that they're not allowed to come in from another province — forget about beer, with anything they purchased legally in Canada — it just seems bizarre and oppressive and sad."

'The fight is not over'

With Thursday's decision in the books, the focus will now turn to refining the recently-inked Canadian Free Trade Agreement, said Corinne Pohlmann, senior vice-president for national affairs with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

The 2017 agreement included an "alcoholic beverages working group," Pohlmann told CBC Ottawa, with a one-year timetable to address some of the issues brought up by this case.

"So that is sort of the next stage, [trying] to convince provinces that they need to loosen up those rules a little bit," Pohlmann said.

As for Beckta, he's hopeful that Thursday's decision isn't the end of the road for what's come to be known as the "free the beer" movement.

"I think the fight is not over," he said. "Constitutionally, the Supreme Court had to uphold the decision. However, there's common sense — and when common sense is at play, we know change can happen."