A ban on the sale of B.C. wine in Alberta is a move that will eventually hurt people living on both sides of the provincial border.
Last week, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced that the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission would immediately stop the import of all wines from British Columbia.
The ban is in response to the British Columbia government’s position on the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
In addition, Notley and others are encouraging Albertans to boycott British Columbia wines until B.C. changes its position.
The B.C. government has announced it will restrict any increase in diluted bitumen shipments from Alberta to B.C. until it conducts more spill response studies.
The issue surrounding the Kinder Morgan pipeline is a complicated one, and the two provincial governments are not in agreement on how to proceed.
Resolving this dispute will not be a fast or easy process.
The Alberta government’s ban on B.C. wine sales in that province is a way to highlight the dispute between the two provinces, and it is certainly working to draw attention to the interprovincial dispute.
However, this course of action does not encourage discussion or dialogue over the pipeline.
Instead, it serves to showcase the heightened tensions between the two provincial governments.
And it leaves people on both sides of the border disappointed and frustrated.
It is important to remember that this interprovincial dispute is about a difference of opinions over a pipeline.
The wineries of British Columbia and the wine drinkers of Alberta are not the ones who will set provincial policies on the pipeline.
As the disagreement continues, B.C. wineries and Alberta wine drinkers have both been caught in the middle.
The pipeline dispute needs to be resolved, but this dispute should be addressed on its own terms.
It’s about a pipeline, not about wine.