Colby Cosh: Why Rachel Notley's trade war with British Columbia wisely targeted wine

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No doubt what you all want to hear from Edmonton right now is how Alberta’s wine war on British Columbia, declared Tuesday, is affecting the common man. As far as I can tell he hasn’t noticed. Of course it will take some time for our centralized liquor warehouse (which is still, unlike the retailing end, run as a provincial government monopoly) to run out of existing stocks of Okanagan plonk. But Premier Rachel Notley has ordered that, for the time being, no more of the stuff shall pass the Rockies lawfully.

B.C. wine turns out to be quite popular here — an interesting lesson for an Albertan who is not really an oenophile, and an important part of why Notley chose it as the target for a punitive trade embargo. After last week’s whimsical speculation by B.C. Premier John Horgan about improvising further delays to the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, Notley, in early electioneering mode and being heckled by Alberta’s right about economic bullying from NDP comrades, was faced with a political choice.

One must imagine her in a war room, being presented by her staff with an explicit menu of options. Someday some journalist will tell that story. And, indeed, some journalists published convincing versions of what that menu must have looked like. At least some mentioned a wine embargo of the sort now imposed. But why wine?

The hint is in the anguished statement issued by the president of the B.C. Wine Institute after Notley’s announcement. In a short list of bullet points, Miles Prodan observes that “30 per cent of all wine sold in Alberta is from B.C., with a retail value of $160 million,” and that “Alberta is the second most important market for B.C. wine (behind B.C. itself).”

Let’s pause to admire the marketing effort that led to this state of affairs — that, until Tuesday, almost a third of all the wine drunk or poured into a saucepan or forgotten in a cupboard, anywhere in Alberta, was coming from B.C. We know, and I hope this won’t hurt the feelings of Mr. Prodan, that this isn’t because Albertans are privy to some secret, still concealed from the rest of the world, about the objective superiority of B.C. wine to the filth we might order from Burgundy or Australia. Are we buying it in such huge amounts because … what, it gets here faster? It’s fresher? Is this like buying seafood or cheese curd?

It is not. Alberta buys, or bought, oceanic quantities of B.C. wine because B.C. is a neighbour. Plenty of middle-class Albertans vacation in the vinous parts of B.C.: there is a micro-Napa tourism industry designed to cater to them. Many rich Albertans have British Columbian friends who dabble in vineyards, or who enjoy showing off a drinkable local brand. Thousands of Albertans have retired directly to B.C. wine country. (If you wrote the story of a historically typical “Albertan,” he would probably be born in Swift Current and die in Osoyoos.)

If you wrote the story of a historically typical Albertan, he would probably be born in Swift Current and die in Osoyoos

An Alberta drinker who habitually buys B.C. wine is probably not getting the world’s very best wine, and definitely not getting it as a matter of course. He is paying for the fun of exploring an exciting Canadian growth industry, and for a product that is sort-of-local. From right next door. Made by folks just like us.

But now, all this bibulous chap is left with, thanks to the embargo, is … the wine that the entire rest of the planet makes. An enforced global flavour journey awaits! Some anger at the embargo has been expressed by Alberta restaurateurs, but these, unless they’re really vexed by the crushing expense of printing off a new wine list, would be the ones who market locavorism and have commercial connections with B.C. vineyards. (I assume there’s a bit of payola spread around, and I have no ethical objection to the idea.) Our liquor retailers seem untroubled: they’ll just stick something else on the shelves.

So the costs to Alberta consumers, and to Alberta businesses, are minimal. And at least one Alberta business is bound to actively benefit. If you remembered that Notley has not been afraid to trample free trade when it comes to craft beer from other provinces, and thought she might be tempted to suggest Alberta craft beer as an alternative to B.C. wine, give yourself points for prescience! Apparently she has no fear that anyone will point out the contradiction between beer protectionism and the position that crude oil must flow free over borders by divine right.

But the trade barrier hits a prestigious infant B.C. industry — one that has lots of participation from rich, influential, successful British Columbians — right in the solar plexus. It took decades of effort, and presumably plenty of cash investment, to build up an Alberta market for B.C. wine. That market may never rebound even if Notley cancels the embargo tomorrow. Why would it? By her arguably silly action, she has certainly caught the attention of Albertans who were buying B.C. wine in the warm, fuzzy spirit of neighbourliness.

• Email: ccosh@postmedia.com | Twitter: colbycosh