I N T E R N A L W I N E T R A D E
CVA’s Efforts for DTC
across Canada Continue
Direct delivery of wine from winery to consumer
will help Canadian wineries increase their wine
sales market share
The Canadian Vintners Association (CVA) and its members continue to keep the
pressure on at both federal and provincial levels in support of direct delivery of
wine across Canada. The ability of wineries to ship wine directly to their consum-ers
is a critical route to market for all Canadian wineries, especially smaller ones, and
will help Canadian wineries increase the wine sales market share they command in the
domestic market, up from its current 33 per cent.
Only three of 10 Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia)
permit direct delivery, despite the passage of the federal Importation of Intoxicating Liquors
Act in July 2012. None of these provinces have experienced a negative impact on sales at a
provincial level as a result of permitting direct delivery. In September 2018, an Ipsos poll
found that 91 per cent of Canadians want their provincial governments to work collab-oratively
with the governments of other provinces and territories to remove the barriers
to inter-provincial trade of Canadian wine.
Over the past year, CVA has been
extremely active in its advocacy for direct-to-
consumer (DTC) on two fronts: legal
and political. Although the result of the
R. v Comeau case in spring 2018 was not
as we had hoped, our intervention and
extensive public relations efforts afford-ed
us considerable media coverage of this
issue, which translated into wide consumer
support via FreeMyGrapes.ca. Industry and
consumer voices were therefore heard by
government following the Supreme Court
of Canada ruling, helping spur on progress
at the political level.
In tandem with our legal efforts,
Only three of 10
Canadian provinces
(British Columbia,
Manitoba and Nova
Scotia) permit
direct delivery.
CVA has undertaken focused engagement
with members of the Alcoholic Beverages
Working Group (ABWG), a federal-provincial working group created under the auspices
of the Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA). Established in July 2017, the working group
was given until July 2018 to table specific recommendations with a view to enhancing
trade in alcoholic beverages within Canada. CVA worked with our legal counsel on a DTC
legislative model that would be in full compliance with Canada’s trade obligations, and
presented this to the ABWG in March 2018. Letters of support for a DTC solution were
also sent to the prime minister, premiers, critics for internal trade, agricultural ministers,
specific house/senate committees, senators and MPs, to encourage broad support of
our proposal.
The premiers agreed in principle to significantly increase personal use exemption lim-its
when crossing provincial/territorial boundaries when they met at the Council of the
Federation in July 2018. A volume limit was not defined and the premiers’ communiqué
suggested the limits would be restricted to personal transport. In response, the Ipsos poll
conducted in September, also found that 86 per cent of Canadians agree that increasing
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