Provinces agree to uncork cross-border personal booze sales by May 2026

Nine provinces and one territory have signed on to an agreement that will allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales by next spring.

Canadians in all provinces — except Newfoundland and Labrador — and Yukon will be able to order alcohol for personal consumption directly from producers that operate elsewhere in the country.

The announcement was made Tuesday following a meeting of provincial, territorial and federal ministers in Quebec City.

May 2026 is the deadline, but a number of details still need to be finalized — including how shipping and taxation will work.

"We hope that Quebecers and Canadians will be able to benefit from this as soon as possible," Quebec's junior economy minister, Christopher Skeete, told reporters during a news conference Tuesday.

"But you understand that this has never been done before, and so we want to make sure that we get it right."

The agreement was part of a broader effort to remove interprovincial trade barriers in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war. In addition to alcohol sales, the ministers signed a memorandum of understanding addressing labour mobility issues and trucking regulations.

"This meeting is part of a series of conversations and actions and legislation passed, federally and provincially, which has created a more united Canadian economy [than] at any time since Confederation," Chrystia Freeland, the federal minister of internal trade, said during Tuesday's news conference.

Ottawa passed legislation last month that removes federal internal trade barriers, including a measure that considers a good or service that meets provincial or territorial rules to have met federal requirements. It also makes it easier for certain workers to get a federal licence by recognizing provincial or territorial work authorizations.

The government has also removed federal barriers from the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.

In addition to the federal level, several provincial and territorial governments have been signing agreements or are working with other provinces to remove trade barriers. The latest such agreement came Monday when Ontario and Alberta agreed to build infrastructure and energy corridors that include a possible railway to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region.