B.C. wineries are struggling to understand why their industry is being dragged into a fight about a pipeline.
On Tuesday afternoon, Alberta premier Rachel Notley announced an immediate halt of wine imports from its western neighbour.
"Maybe choose some terrific Alberta craft beer instead," she said at a press conference.
Notley linked the ban to the B.C. government’s decision to further review the oil-spill risk of the expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta through B.C., a move that has an adverse impact on the Alberta economy.
“I don’t know why our industry is being dragged into this,” Christa-Lee McWatters, chair of the B.C. Wine Institute, told the Courier shortly after the decision was announced. She is also the marketing director of Encore Vineyards and oversees all marketing activities for Evolve Cellars in Summerland and Time Winery in Penticton. “
“It feels like we’re an easy target because everyone likes wine,” she said.
Because the announcement was only hours old, McWatters did not yet know how the wine industry would counteract the ban, but fight they will, given how important Alberta sales are. “We will not just sit here and allow it to happen to us.”
Encore Vineyards is a relatively small vineyard; about a third of its sales are to Alberta. “For us, it could be potentially devastating” because Time wine is the official wine of the Calgary Flames. One dollar from the sale of each bottle goes to an Alberta charity.
She’s also worried whether the ban — and calls for a boycott of B.C. wines in Alberta — will affect the Okanagan’s tourism industry.
When it comes to B.C. wines already on Alberta restaurant wine lists and wine store shelves, Premier Notley told Albertans to think about workers in her province’s oil industry before they order.
"The wine industry is very important to B.C.," Notley said of her pressure tactic. "Not nearly as important as the energy industry is to Alberta and Canada, but important nonetheless.”
As a B.C. wine lover, she said she regrets the impact the decision will have on B.C.’s wine industry.
