In February, Canadian provinces initiated a significant removal of American liquor from their shelves in response to the sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Canadian goods. This decision has severely limited the ability of US alcoholic beverage producers to reach consumers nationwide. As of this past December, of the ten provinces, only Alberta and Saskatchewan remain selling American goods.
The tariffs, affecting numerous public and economic sectors, generated an unprecedented tidal wave of local boycotts that crippled the liquor trade. Alberta and Saskatchewan benefit from a completely privatized liquor retail system. In the meantime, the rest of the provinces are still grappling with the problem of how to go on maintaining their established stocks of US booze.
And up in neighboring Nova Scotia, new Premier Tim Houston made an exhilarating call. To avoid wasting the alcohol, the province will sell off its remaining American alcohol inventory. These sales are projected to bring in approximately C$4 million of revenue. The rest of the money raised will go to support Feed Nova Scotia and other community-based food banks. Eventually Houston sees their current stock run down, Nova Scotia will stop importing US alcohol. They still won’t issue new orders beyond that.
Manitoba decided to go the charitable route. Instead, it made the unprecedented move to sell off its last inventory of US liquor, with profits directed to charity. This initiative is emblematic of a growing trend across provinces. Now they’re redirecting those same supplies to societal benefit, in particular to respond to the ongoing trade war’s impact.
Quebec, which has about C$27 million of American liquor on their shelves, found themselves in the same boat. In August, the province’s liquor board sounded the alarm on an urgent crisis. They may be required to incinerate $300,000 of US products that are close to their best-before date. In a last-minute u-turn, Quebec re-allocated soon-to-expire liquor awaiting destruction to charity events and hospitality schools.
As a result, Ontario has currently stockpiled an astounding C$80 million worth of American liquor. Most of this liquor is about to expire. In a recent discussion on the GTHA podcast, Ontario’s Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy confirmed Ontario has no plans to offload this inventory anytime soon. He noted that about C$2 million of liquor is about to expire in the not-too-distant future. This indicates the province could be more amenable to shelving any plans to divest its US-based liquor inventory.
British Columbia has been able to move all its US allotment directly to taverns and restaurants. This strategy allows them to sidestep the storage crisis that other provinces are struggling with right now. This helped them get their stock out the door, while simultaneously supporting nearby stores.