When Premier Danielle Smith stood beside B.C. Premier David Eby in May 2024 and announced a new agreement to allow direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine shipping from B.C. into Alberta, many of us in the Canadian wine industry applauded. For the first time in years, it felt like provinces were putting Canadians — and common sense — ahead of bureaucracy and trade barriers.
That optimism was short-lived.
What Alberta’s government did in the months that followed has undermined that agreement and added new costs to Alberta consumers. Worse, it was done quietly — during a time of global tariff uncertainty — under the cover of a foreign trade dispute.
Let’s walk through what happened:
May 2024: Alberta and B.C. agreed to reopen DTC wine shipping. It was heralded as a return to fairness and free interprovincial trade.
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