Can't crack open a cold one: N.L. only province to abstain from alcohol trade agreement

Customers in Newfoundland and Labrador are out of luck if they were hoping to buy a specific beer or spirit from another province without having to leave.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province to withhold from a national agreement that allows direct-to-consumer alcohol sales between provinces this week. That means all of the other provinces — and the Yukon — will be able to ship their drinks to the doorsteps of Canadians across the country by next spring. 

A brewer in the Conception Bay, N.L. area says his small business likely won't be affected, but told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show that he doesn't fully understand the province's decision. 

"We talk about having free trade across the provinces and then we start putting up minor little barriers like this, and that doesn't make any sense," said Reg Gervais, owner of Bay de Verde Brewing Company.

Ottawa is still working on the fine print of the agreement and is ironing out issues like shipping. 

The Bay de Verde Brewing Company operates out of a converted saltbox house about 175 kilometres north of St. John's.

Gervais said it can be expensive for producers like himself to ship products off of the island.

"I also see the other side of it," he said. "Whether or not people are going to want to pay that premium to get a beer made in Newfoundland, I'm not sure."

Unions in the province have cautioned against opening up the trade barrier. Labatt and Molson had voiced their concerns that the market would be overrun by out-of-province products when Canada was in talks with provinces in March.

Uncertain impacts

CBC News asked Finance Minister Siobhan Coady for an interview on direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, but instead received a statement from her department. 

The department said it's speaking with stakeholders before agreeing to join the memorandum of understanding to open up those internal trade barriers. 

"We are working with the federal government and other provinces to reduce interprovincial trade barriers and ultimately create new opportunities for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians," the statement said. 

"We need to fully understand the impact on our local industries and jobs."

However, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business thinks Newfoundland and Labrador can do better.

Ryan Mallough, the non-profit's vice-president of legislative affairs and communications, told CBC News that Newfoundland and Labrador is tied with Quebec at the bottom of the list when it comes to easing trade barriers.

He said the province needs to make decisions and evolve with more urgency.

Gervais says the same.

"We've all kind of agreed that eliminating trade barriers between provinces is a good thing until we get one we don't like," he said.

The business owner argues that Newfoundland and Labrador keeps a "protectionist spirit alive" by not participating in barrier-breaking agreements like the new memorandum of understanding.

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