American liquor bottles coming from Republican states have been pulled off shelves in provincial liquor stores and are being replaced with signs encouraging you to buy Canadian.
This makes good on Premier David Eby’s vow Saturday to direct the BC Liquor Distribution Branch to immediately stop buying American liquor from “red states” and remove the highest-selling brands from those states from store shelves.
B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon has been installed as chair of a cabinet committee struck to determine how the province will respond to the unprecedented tariffs.
Speaking to the press at a Vancouver liquor store Sunday, Kahlon explained why B.C. is specifically targetting red states.
“Because, quite frankly, Donald Trump does not care about Democrat states,” he said.
“We want to make sure that we are not punishing states that have nothing to do with this.”
Jack Daniels is one popular brand you won’t be able to stock up on for the time being. However, Kahlon says California wines are still on the table for British Columbians.
He says they’re still discussing with the feds and other provinces what the next step in B.C.’s response will be and whether it’ll include bans on some critical exports.
Kahlon says Trump’s shifting and chaotic communication style proves this trade war is not entirely about fentanyl.
“Today, President Trump put out a tweet saying that there is nothing Canada can do to change the path he has taken and that we should just become the 51st state,” he said.
“He has made it clear on several occasions that this is about trade imbalances. He believes this is his strategy to get the U.S. to produce more goods locally and he has repeated that often, time and time again.”
Kahlon points to the White House’s own report that says Canada was responsible for less than one per cent of illegal fentanyl entering the United States last year.
“We in Canada agree 100 per cent fentanyl is killing people, not only here but across the U.S. We should be taking action on that, we are taking action on that,” he said. “But to suggest that you’re going to take actions like this, that will cripple businesses, will hurt families on both sides of the border on this issue, when every other comment he’s made has been contrary to that, it’s hard to believe and it’s hard to know.
“Every day, we are hearing something different coming out of their administration.”