JAY GOLDBERG: It’s high time to put U.S. alcohol back on Canadian shelves

In eight provinces, taxpayers are on the hook for storing pre-bought U.S. alcohol. American booze is expiring in warehouses across Canada.

Article content Does it make sense to waste millions of dollars by letting all kinds of U.S. alcohol expire just to make a political point? Apparently, Canada’s politicians think so. Recommended Videos

According to a report from CBC News, Ontario taxpayers have spent $8 million for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to store U.S. alcohol since Premier Doug Ford ordered it to be taken off of Ontario shelves 16 months ago. Over those 16 months, roughly $2.6 million worth of alcohol has expired. And those are just numbers from Ontario.

As part of Canada’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariff agenda, imposed after his inauguration early last year, eight of Canada’s provincial governments took U.S. alcohol off of liquor store shelves, supposedly as one part of Canada’s plan to retaliate against the administration’s policies. Only Alberta and Saskatchewan opted not to jump on the bandwagon. That means in eight different provinces, taxpayers are on the hook for storing pre-bought U.S. alcohol.

It also means that American booze are expiring in warehouses across Canada. What has all of this achieved? The answer is simple: nothing.

Sixteen months later, there’s no deal to renew the CUSMA, nor has the Carney government been successful in negotiating a deal to get the Trump administration to remove some of its tariffs on Canadian goods. The only thing the U.S. alcohol ban has served to achieve is to raise the ire of the Trump administration and its allies in Congress and, according to U.S. officials, make a possible deal all the more difficult. The U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, has specifically pointed to the booze boycott as a key factor holding up a trade deal between Canada and the U.S.

So too has the United States Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, who listed it as a key trade irritant in the United States’ annual foreign trade barrier report to the president. And just last week, Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney on New York introduced the CANADA Act in the House of Representatives, which would instruct the USTR to launch a Section 301 investigation into Canada’s provinces that have banned U.S. alcohol and ultimately retaliate against Canada through additional tariffs pending the outcome of the investigation. Does it make sense to risk a trade deal with the U.S. and additional tariffs just to make a political point?

Once again, Canada’s politicians seem to think so. “No CUSMA, no boozma,” said Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew in response to U.S. concerns about the booze ban. Kinew’s fellow premiers, save Alberta’s Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe, seem to agree.

But while Kinew’s sloganeering might be music to some Canadians ears, it will be cold comfort if the U.S. withdraws from the CUSMA, which still allows more than 85 per cent of Canada’s exports to go into the U.S. tariff free. There’s also an important question about the role of government here. If Canadians don’t want to buy U.S. alcohol because they’re upset with Trump, they should be free to buy something else.

But that doesn’t mean we need heavy-handed politicians to take American booze off the shelves entirely, denying individuals their own autonomy and consumer choice. All while costing Canadian taxpayers untold millions of dollars. This booze-banning exercise has proven futile.

Letting it continue indefinitely simply doesn’t make sense. For the sake of consumer choice, Canadian taxpayers, and Canada-U.S. trade relations, it’s time to hit the reset button. Canada’s premiers should allow U.S. alcohol to go back onto the shelves and let consumers make the call.

Jay Goldberg is the North American Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center