It's a problem felt across small businesses in Canada — attempting to export alcohol products into other provinces

Four years ago, Faye Warrington, who co-owns Skunk Works Distillery in Calgary, received a request from someone in Ontario for a case of their spirits.

“(We told them) we’re not really allowed to send it over provincially,” Warrington said. The person contacted the province’s liquor board who emailed Warrington and asked how much a case of her spirits would cost, to which she replied, “$150 bucks and we can ship it.”

She didn’t hear back from the board. Instead she received an email forwarded from the same client. The email, from the same liquor board, said that the client would have to pay upwards of $600 for the same case.

“That’s so unfair,” Warrington recalled thinking

See Full Page