Alberta Whine

The Province of Alberta's government will immediately boycott all imports of wines from British Columbia, Premier Rachel Notley announced Tuesday, escalating the inter-provincial spat over the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline.  The province's tough stance follows B.C.'s call last week for further review of the oil-spill risk from the pipeline expansion, a move that could delay a project Alberta sees as vital to its economy.  Alberta first retaliated by suspending talks to buy B.C. electricity.  But Notley upped the stakes dramatically on Tuesday, saying the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) will immediately halt the import of all wines from its western neighbour. The AGLC controls almost all alcohol imports into the province, which are then sold through privately owned liquor stores. "The wine industry is very important to B.C.," Notley said at a news conference from the Alberta Legislature. "Not nearly as important as the energy industry is to Alberta and Canada, but important nonetheless.  "I know a lot of Albertans who love B.C. wine. Quite frankly, I'm one of them."

​In 2017, Alberta imported about ​17.2 million bottles of wine from B.C., Notley said. That amounts to about $70 million per year paid to B.C. wineries. About 95 per cent of Canadian wine sold in Alberta liquor stores are from B.C.  Why hurt all the small BC wineries in our province?  These people are trying to make a living and have nothing to do with the pipeline!

The best post on Twitter from an Alberta resident was: "I relocated from BC four years ago and drinking BC wine is the only reason I stay!"  

Another twitter user posted: "It isn't about Alberta vs BC it's about a politician bullying small businesses on behalf of a giant Texas oil company,"

Premier Notley, why don't you let the courts decide this?  The wine sector is an innocent victim of  a petty dispute between two NDP governments. 

Does anyone remember what happened in 2007 in the City of Burnaby?  

How could we ever forget the oil spill in Prince William Sound when the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in 1989?  The oil slick fanned out as far as 500 miles from the tanker's crash site and oozed along 1,300 miles of shoreline.  Tarred feathered sandpipers and oil-coated otters featured in devastating nightly news footage.  Salmon and eagle populations were decimated.  Thousands of seals and a quarter of a million shorebirds died.