Can British Columbians now have beer and other spirits from across Canada shipped to their door?

It will take till 2027 for B.C. to implement a new interprovincial deal allowing direct-to-consumer sales of wine, beer and spirits. Photo by Rushay Booysen /stock.adobe.com

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A new agreement signed by all provinces except Quebec will expand the ability for British Columbians to have beer, spirits and liquors from across Canada shipped directly to their door and allow for B.C. wineries, distilleries and breweries to sell their products across most of the country.

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On Tuesday, Premier David Eby and his counterparts from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador signed an agreement on direct-to-consumer alcohol sales.

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B.C. already allows its residents to get wine directly from vineyards in other provinces without any additional taxation or regulation, but the same does not extend to beer, spirits or other alcoholic products.

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While the other eight provinces will remove these barriers immediately, British Columbians will have to wait until February 2027, which is when Eby says the government will have the new system running.

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Here are three things you need to know about the new deal.

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Why can’t B.C. open up direct-to-consumer sales immediately?

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Taxation.

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All liquor sales in B.C. run through the Liquor Distribution Branch, which registers products for wholesale and sets prices based on what the supplier’s price is, what the LDB thinks the provincial markup should be, and whether there are any container deposits, recycling fees, federal customs or GST that need to be added.

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This wholesale approach applies to bars, restaurants and liquor stores but does not apply to direct-to-consumer sales where a winery, distiller or brewery ships directly to a customer.

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Eby says B.C. needs to build a system for sales back and forth with other provinces so that it can regulate and collect taxes on the purchases. This will extend to wine, bringing the free market that currently exists under government control.

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“The challenge we face in British Columbia is we have a provincial liquor system that was built for provincial sales. And so we have to build our database and duty collection system, the tax collection system, for a national system,” the premier said Thursday.

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“We can’t have it where B.C. products have provincial and federal taxes on them, and products from other places don’t. And so getting that all in place to make sure that we’re able to provide that seamless access to the B.C. market and vice versa is critically important for us.”

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Will more products from other provinces now be in liquor stores?

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Not necessarily.

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While some spirits and other alcoholic beverages from elsewhere in Canada are sold in provincial and private liquor stores in B.C., the decision on what spirits can and cannot be sold is regulated by the Liquor Distribution Branch, which often favours local products or bulk imports.

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This is partly due to demand, as there is much larger demand for wines from France or Italy than wines from Ontario.

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Ryan Mitton, B.C. legislative director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said the regulations in other provinces are also confusing for small businesses and not always transparent.