A New Era For Interprovincial Shipment Of Liquor?

"Removing federal barriers to the interprovincial trade of alcohol: To facilitate internal trade, the Government intends to remove the federal requirement that alcohol moving from one province to another be sold or consigned to a provincial liquor authority. Provinces and territories would continue to be able to regulate the sale and distribution of alcohol within their boundaries."

Bill C-97 has proposed specific amendments to the IILA. The original statute states: 3 (1) Notwithstanding any other Act or law, no person shall import, send, take or transport, or cause to be imported, sent, taken or transported, into any province from or out of any place within or outside Canada any intoxicating liquor, except such as has been purchased by or on behalf of, and that is consigned to Her Majesty or the executive government of, the province into which it is being imported, sent, taken or transported, or any board, commission, officer or other governmental agency that, by the law of the province, is vested with the right of selling intoxicating liquor.

(Emphasis added.)

We must also consider the famous "personal import" exception to this provision in s. 3(2)(h) of the IILA:

(h) The importation of wine, beer or spirits from a province by an individual, if the individual brings the wine, beer or spirits or causes them to be brought into another province, in quantities and as permitted by the laws of the other province, for his or her personal consumption, and not for resale or other commercial use.

(Emphasis added.)

The proposed amendments delete the personal use exemption in its entirety and redraft the s. 3(1) general prohibition as follows:

3(1) Despite any other Act or law, other than the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act, a person is not permitted to import, or cause to be imported, into a province from a place outside Canada any intoxicating liquor unless the intoxicating liquor has been purchased by or on behalf of, and is consigned to, Her Majesty or the executive government of a province, or any board, commission, officer or other governmental agency of the province that, by the law of that province, is authorized to sell intoxicating liquor.

This new provision means that the IILA does not apply to liquor shipped internally within Canada, whether or not it is manufactured domestically and whether or not it is for personal use. In other words, the federal government has removed all federal restrictions on interprovincial shipment of liquor, full stop. The IILA is now only concerned with importation of liquor from outside Canada into any province within Canada.

Before anyone pops open the champagne, it is important to understand this announcement in the context of Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) jurisprudence on provincial...