Sour grapes: Albertans react to boycott of B.C. wines

Alberta wine buffsaren't happy withthe premier putting a cork in B.C. wine imports.

"Albertansare very fond and I am one of them of B.C. wines, and frankly, I find it quite annoying,"said Paul Hastings.

Premier RachelNotleyannounced Tuesday "an immediate halt to the import of B.C. wines into Alberta" in response to B.C.'sproposed restriction on oil shipments.

Theinter-provincial spatwill hurt businesses in both provinces, saidHastings, who was shopping at Edmonton'sSpirits on Jasper liquor store on Tuesday night, hours after the ban was announced.

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"I think it is [an] inappropriate move on the part of the government of Alberta to threaten the livelihood of liquor merchants in the province of Alberta.

"You're attacking a business, potentially threatening livelihood and you're telling me what I can drink and I can't drink," he said.

BobMaddiganwas also shopping for B.C. wine in downtown Edmonton Tuesday night.

"I just bought a bottle of B.C. wine and I'll be drinking it in 15 minutes,"Maddigansaid with a laugh.

He said he thinks the ongoing dispute is a joke, and likened the wine war to the recent fight between Saskatchewan and Alberta over licence plates on construction sites.

"It's no different than them battling Alberta plates in Saskatchewan," he said.

Maddigansaid B.C. Premier JohnHorganis fighting the proposed pipeline expansion to appease the Green Party. The two parties agreed to form an alliancein May 2017.

"He's got no choice but to support this, otherwise the Green Party turns on him and he loses his job,"Maddigansaid.

Regardless of the B.C. government's attempts to thwart the pipeline,Maddigansaid the project will continue as planned.The $7.4-billion project was approved by the federal government in 2016.

"The pipeline will go in," he said. "B.C.'s not going to decide. It's a federal decision."

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Wine merchant Juanita Roosloves B.C. wines, but is in complete support of Alberta's boycott.

Roos, the owner of Color de Vino on Whyte Avenue, said she believes a lot of her customers also support Notley's decision to escalatethe inter-provincial spat and fight for approval of theTrans Mountain pipeline expansion.

"We have to be sensitive to what the consumers want here," Roos said. "Obviously a lot of our customers are affected by the oil industry,so financially it's a big concern."

The boycott willhave little financialimpact on B.C. wineries, she said.

"Most of the B.C. wineries, especially the ones we deal with, are small producers," Roos said."So I think they're already selling a good portion of their wines locally and overseas."

A threat to wineries and liquor merchants

Fort McMurray restaurant owner Karen Collinssupports the wine boycott.

The owner of Asti Trattoria Italianadropped B.C. wines from her restaurant menu five days before Notley announced the boycott.

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Collins saidremoving the wines wasn't an attack on wineries, but an attack on the B.C. government. She said the B.C. government's proposed sanctions on bitumen importshurt her business and the community.

It's an indirect hit on their economy, but unfortunately there are always casualties.- Karen Collins, Fort McMurray restaurant owner

"It affects my business indirectly. And in a sense, that's kind of what I feel about B.C. as well," she said. "It's an indirect hit on their economy, but unfortunately there are always casualties."

Collins said she's hopeful the B.C. government can be pressured into droppingits restrictions on Alberta oil, which would end the boycott.

Plenty of customers have told Collinstaking the wines off hermenu was the right thing to do, she said. But she has also received calls from B.C. wineries that aren'thappy with her decision.

"It's got nothing against the wineries," she said. "It's against what the B.C. government's policies are."