Provincial governments should follow Manitoba’s lead and allow the online sale of alcoholic beverages from other provinces

From the Montreal Economic Institute

By Shal Marriott and Gabriel Giguère

Removing Interprovincial Barriers to Online Alcohol Sales

Canada’s provincial and territorial governments should allow consumers to shop online for alcoholic beverages produced elsewhere in the country, indicates an MEI publication.

“The restrictions imposed by provincial alcohol monopolies are such that it is sometimes easier for a Canadian producer to sell its products on the other side of the world than in the province next door,” explains Shal Marriott, research associate at the MEI and author of the study. “By allowing producers to sell their products online, directly to consumers, our provincial governments would remove obstacles to their growth.”

In 2019, the federal, provincial, and territorial governments had committed to improving interprovincial trade in alcoholic beverages. This commitment stems directly from the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, signed two years before.

Manitoba is the only province to allow its residents to shop online for Canadian alcoholic beverages from other provinces, without restriction.

British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Nova Scotia have partial restrictions, allowing consumers to shop online for certain categories of products from specific parts of the country.

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador each continue to prohibit consumers from shopping online for alcoholic beverages from outside the province.

“By opening the door to this online commerce, our provincial governments would allow consumers to discover new products that they otherwise cannot purchase at home,” says Ms. Marriott. “This is the kind of simple measure that could also give our microbreweries, our wineries, and our distilleries a helping hand.”

The alcoholic beverage sector contributes over $4.4 billion to the Canadian economy, according to the latest available data.

Viewpoint calling on Canada’s provincial governments to allow the unrestricted online purchase and shipment of alcoholic beverages from one province to another

* * *

This Viewpoint was prepared by Shal Marriott, Research Associate at the MEI, in collaboration with Gabriel Giguère, Senior Policy Analyst at the MEI. The MEI’s Regulation Series aims to examine the often unintended consequences for individuals and businesses of various laws and rules, in contrast with their stated goals.

In October 2012, retiree Gerard Comeau was stopped by the RCMP and fined for bringing a too large quantity of beer and liquor from Quebec into New Brunswick, violating the personal exemption limit in place. In its ruling on the Comeau case in April 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld provincial governments’ right to maintain such restrictions, provided they did not intentionally impede interprovincial alcohol trade.(1)

A year later, however, the federal government and the provinces agreed on an Action Plan “to enhance interprovincial trade of alcoholic beverages,” stemming from the 2017 Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).(2) This included increasing, and ultimately eliminating, personal use exemption limits (which set the amount of alcohol one can bring back from another province) and creating e-commerce platforms.(3)

Some progress has been made to raise or remove personal exemption limits across the country, meaning that Canadians can now import and transport alcohol more easily across most provincial lines for personal consumption, without penalty.(4) Most provinces, however, have failed to liberalize other areas of interprovincial alcohol trade, such as interprovincial online retail sales of alcoholic products, thus depriving Canadians of the benefits of greater competition, namely a broader choice of products and lower prices.

The Current State of Online Alcohol Retail Sales

There have been some efforts to allow greater freedom in online alcohol sales, such as Saskatchewan and British Columbia allowing a limited form of direct-to-consumer sales and shipping of wine and craft spirits from producers in the other province.(5) However, most Canadian provinces continue to prohibit the online retail sale of alcoholic beverages from other provinces directly to their consumers. For example, the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) states that while producers are not restricted formally from offering to sell to residents of Quebec, it is illegal for those Quebec residents to make such purchases and have them shipped into the province.(6)

As can be seen in Table 1, few provinces allow producers from other provinces to ship directly to consumers. Manitoba is the only Canadian province with no interprovincial online purchasing restrictions. The restrictions that have been removed in Western provinces and Nova Scotia are also relatively limited (and mainly concern wine). Quebec and Ontario retain complete prohibitions, which is hardly surprising as they are also among the provinces that have made the least progress towards the liberalization of internal trade more broadly.(7)

While we see some improvement in Alberta’s willingness to allow some direct-to-consumer shipments, continued protectionism still exists in the province’s alcohol trade. For example, in January 2024, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) corporation argued that direct-to-consumer shipping was having a negative impact on the provincial liquor monopoly.(8) In reaction, it threatened to stop selling BC wines in its stores until this practice ceased, and this position was seemingly supported by the Alberta government as there was no action to condemn the stance of the AGLC.(9)

Although a memorandum of understanding was reached six months later, ending a temporary ban that had been imposed, this showcases that provincial liquor monopolies, and provincial governments, are willing to enforce interprovincial trade barriers that ultimately deprive Canadian producers and consumers.(10)

The Benefits of Direct-to-Consumer Purchasing Online

There has been a general growth in the online consumer goods market, but Canadian producers and consumers of alcohol products have been unable to fully participate in, and benefit from, this opportunity. This protects provincial alcohol monopolies with their brick-and-mortar stores, which are thus shielded from online competition, at the expense of consumers and producers, whose ability to engage in trade with each other is limited.(11)

Liquor monopolies thus find it easier to impose artificially high prices on the products they retail. The SAQ, for instance, imposes markups on bottles of wine which, when combined with excise and sales taxes, can account for over 75% of the retail price of the product.(12)

Abolishing these restrictions on interprovincial shipping directly to consumers would allow Canadians in any province to freely order online from alcohol producers anywhere in the country. Online sales are one of the most convenient ways for consumers to purchase alcohol from other provinces. Opening up this type of commerce would also be good for smaller breweries, wineries, and distilleries, allowing them to expand their reach within the domestic market.

The federal government has declared a commitment to an increasingly liberalized domestic alcohol market.(13) Yet, this liberalization is being hindered by provincial governments and alcohol monopolies that limit the growth of the domestic market. For the sake of Canadian consumers and producers alike, the provinces should simply allow the unrestricted online purchase and shipment of alcohol from other provinces.

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Liberals, globalists flip out after Trump orders USAID freeze

Published on February 4, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Stephen Kokx

The foreign aid agency USAID has morphed into a slush fund for the Deep State to spread wokeism and to spark revolutions in countries that resist its tyrannical decrees. President Trump has had enough of this, and his administration is moving to dismantle the program.

How many Americans even knew what USAID was until this week? I’m guessing less than one percent.

For the uninformed: USAID was started by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Officially named the United States Agency for International Development, it spends over $40 billion in taxpayer dollars every year on various initiatives overseas; most of which are a complete waste of money, as Elon Musk and others have pointed out in recent days. See here:

Whatever good intentions Kennedy may have had for the program, it has morphed into a slush fund for the Deep State to spread wokeism and to spark revolutions in countries that resist its tyrannical decrees. All of this is done in the name of “defending democracy” mind you.

Under Joe Biden, USAID was run by World Economic Forum functionary Samantha Powers, who weaponized the agency to funnel boatloads of cash to Ukraine, among other futile projects.

That fact was pointed out by Balázs Orbán, the son of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, on X this week.

A CIA front group that promotes LGBT ideology overseas

President Trump has had enough of this. In his continued effort to drain the swamp, he signed an executive order empowering the newly created Department of Governmental Efficiency to dismantle USAID.

“I love the concept, but they turned out to be radical left lunatics,” he said about the agency in the Oval Office on Monday.

USAID’s website has already been shut down, and many of its liberal employees have been fired or barred from entering its headquarters in D.C., causing Democrats to hold a rally outside of it; because nothing shows the American people that you care about them more than defending a program designed to spend their money in foreign lands. Talk about being out of touch.

Oddly enough, left-wing Jesuit priest James Martin also defended the agency by claiming that Jesus would support it as well. He was rightly called out by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò on X.

Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named USAID’s interim director. He told the media this week that its rogue behavior has come to an end.

“USAID has a history of ignoring [the national interest of the United States] and deciding that they’re a global charity. These are not donor dollars, these are taxpayer dollars,” he said.

Other lawmakers and mainstream pundits have jumped on the bandwagon as well.

“To my friends who are upset, call somebody who cares. You better get used to this. It’s USAID today, it’s gonna be Department of Education tomorrow,” GOP Senator John Kennedy said.

“It’s not foreign aid — it’s a foreign slush fund,” Fox News’ Laura Ingraham has argued, as has Glenn Beck.

Trump’s “Rapid Response” X account joined in on the fun by highlighting some of the many ways the agency has wasted your and my money on LGBT and DEI causes abroad.

Democrats melt down as Trump takes aim

Liberals have been unable to control themselves. News that fewer tax dollars will be spent promoting their woke religion has left them apoplectic.

This is a “coup,” thundered an emotional Joy Reid on MSNBC.

Fellow MSNBC anchor Jen Psaki ludicrously claimed that the agency helps with “humanitarian” causes and “works to combat corruption.”

Van Jones said on CNN the rolling back of funding is Trump telling the world to “go die.”

Total nonsense.

Like Freemasonry, USAID may feed the poor and help some impoverished people, but that is just cover to hide its true aim, which is to sow discord in countries that reject the NATO and U.S. empire.

USAID has done this for decades, primarily by funding non-governmental organizations (and even extremists) that cause headaches for leaders who refuse to be slaves to the West. This has been the case in the nation of Georgia over the past several years. See here:

CNN’s Scott Jennings, a Republican, made a comment about how USAID has been appropriated by liberals that really hits the nail on the head with what has gone wrong with it.

“There is a difference between soft power and soft stupidity. So whether you’re funding DEI musicals in some country or transgender surgery somewhere or whatever, that is not what most Americans would say is an effective part of U.S. foreign policy.”

USAID funded the Wuhan lab in China

Perhaps the most attention-grabbing headline that has emerged with the USAID story is the revelation that the agency funneled $40 million to a lab in Wuhan, China, to study bat coronaviruses.

“Records prove that Ben Hu — COVID’s likely ‘Patient Zero’ — is a Wuhan white coat funded directly by Fauci, NIT & USAID to conduct dangerous coronavirus gain of function experiments on animals!” watchdog group White Coat Waste Project posted on X today.

Fauci has long denied being involved in such measures, but GOP Senator Ran Paul has never backed down from disputing his claims. He likewise challenged Samantha Powers about USAID money going to Wuhan as well.

Last week, Paul announced his intention to continue digging into the matter, given Biden’s preemptive pardoning of Fauci.

Today, Paul re-shared an X post from political activist Matt Kibbe that suggested he is on the cusp of blowing the whole thing wide open.

“NIAID and USAID were money-laundering puppets for agencies prohibited from doing dangerous gain-of-function bioterrorism research. Now, Rand Paul and Elon Musk are poised to expose the whole scheme,” Kibbe said.

USAID has misspent taxpayer money in countless other ways as well. Many of the downright bizarre programs are being shared on X. Here are a few of them:

It should be noted that Rand Paul’s father, former Congressman Ron Paul, has been a critic of the Deep State for decades. In a recent video message, he called on the government to audit USAID and then shut it down. Elon Musk re-shared the video, calling it an “interesting” proposal.

That’s good advice. I hope Elon and Trump will take it and follow through on it. Ending USAID is long overdue.

Business

Trudeau Liberals pledge $41.5 million for over 100 pro-2SLGBTQI+ projects

Published on February 4, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Leader of the People’s Party of Canada Maxime Bernier blasted the funding, noting how spending money while the country is in a “major economic crisis” shows how “Liberal nutcases” are “wasting” taxpayer money on “woke activists.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is using its final days to promise $41.5 million in taxpayer funds to advance 106 pro-LGBT projects “across Canada.”

On January 31, Lisa Hepfner, Trudeau’s Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, announced “$41.5 million for 106 projects across four different 2SLGBTQI+ funds.”

Today I joined my colleague @s_guilbeault in Montreal to announce a fed investment of $41.5 million for 106 projects to advance equality for 2SLGBTQI+ communities across 🇨🇦 Including $8m for 10 projects aimed at combatting hate and $33.5m to fund 96 projects to address key issues pic.twitter.com/eqrifcTFIg

— Lisa Hepfner (@lisahepfner) January 31, 2025

“This funding will advance equality for 2SLGBTQI+ communities across Canada and address the rise in hate,” claimed the government in a press release.

The government said the money will help “build and sustain resilience of 2SLGBTQI+ communities against hate and discrimination,” with the funds coming as part of Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate, which was launched in the fall of 2024, and follows Trudeau’s Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan, which is in its third year of operation.

Leader of the People’s Party of Canada Maxime Bernier blasted the funding, noting how spending money while the country is in a “major economic crisis” shows how “Liberal nutcases” are “wasting” taxpayer money on “woke activists.”

“As Canada is on the verge of a major economic crisis, these Liberal nutcases are wasting another $41M on woke activists and mentally ill people who identify as one of the 52 genders. Unbelievable,” wrote Bernier on X Saturday in response to Hepfner’s X post about the funding.

As reported by investigative blogger Pat Maloney, Canada spent $108,594,964 on LGBT ideology in 2022, a number that swelled to a whopping $665,454,357 in 2023.

Since taking office in 2015, the Trudeau government has consistently pushed an anti-life, anti-family narrative on Canadians.

In addition to supporting effectively unlimited abortion, Trudeau and his government have stood behind even the most extreme aspects of gender ideology, such as the chemical and surgical “transition” of minors.

Trudeau announced in early January that he plans to step down as Liberal Party leader once a new leader has been chosen, which is set to take place on March 9. Parliament has been prorogued until March 24 as a result, although Trudeau could resume it at any time.

Thus far, the two main candidates in the running to replace Trudeau are former central banker Mark Carney and Trudeau’s former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.