Tag Archives: Dan Albas

Free grapes of colour

Fotolia

as seen on canada.com

A free grape of colour is a varietal of vitis vinifera of full or partial European descent not enslaved by the McGuinty government.

The days of discrimination against grapes across the nation may soon be coming to an end, or not.  Private members Bill 117 begins in the Legislative Assemble of Ontario today, brought forth by Rob E. Milligan, MPP (Northumberland–Quinte West).  The bill will carry first reading to amend the Liquor Control Act, namely to the agreement on internal trade.

Thanks to the efforts of B.C. MP Dan Albas the ball is quickly rolling down hills. Private member’s bills rarely achieve the status of law but the federal Bill C-311 passed. Nova Scotia recently voted to allow direct shipping of BC and Ont wine, making it the third such province to do so. So Dalton, what do you say?

Here is the act’s catch amendment:
“The Government of Ontario shall encourage the governments that are parties to the Agreement on Internal Trade to implement or amend measures in each of their jurisdictions, if necessary, to allow for the free movement of wine within Canada in accordance with the requirements set out in that Agreement.”

Possibility is still the operative word here, as opposed to probability. Even if the bill passes, the limit of ‘personal exemption’ to receive a shipment of wine from B.C. would still remain in the hands of the LCBO. The LCBO has already chimed in, saying it will limit amounts and only allow wine to be moved inter-provincially “in person.” But let me ask this. Despite the LCBO’s island in a sea of opinions ways, how could the powers that be refuse to follow suit were the Ontario Legislature to put through this Bill? Simple, because they can. There are $4.7 billion reasons to back up that position.

Nevertheless, a start is a start and the rest may well be, history.

Good to go!

June the month for Euro 2012 and wine law reform

Thomas Mulcair and Bill C-311

http://blogs.canada.com/2012/05/31/june-the-month-for-euro-2012-and-wine-law-reform/

June is shaping up to be a great month for Football fans and wine lovers across the nation. With one week to go before the opening matches for the Euro 2012 comes news of a new Canadian wine law. By the time Poland and Greece kick off the Euro next Friday, the tabled bill brought forth by Conservative MP Dan Albas may soon be back in the Senate. This after NDP MP’s wasted precious time by debating the bill ad nauseum on Tuesday night, filibustering its fast track to the Senate. One has to wonder what role Mr. Mulcair played in his party’s stall tactics.

Albus is the British Columbia MP for Okanagan-Coquihalla.  His tweets and website are relentless in the pursuit of this proposed legislation. The purpose of Bill C-311 is to allow Canadian wineries to ship their wines across provinces in opposition to the archaic 1928 Prohibition-era law. After some scrambling, Albus was rescued by Liberal MP Scott Brison, who offered some of his own parliamentary time to slot in Bill C-311 next week. The Bill has another chance to pass on June 6. Mark Hicken, who runs the website freethewine.ca, notes that Provincial monopolies need not fear a loss or revenue “as over 90% of wine is consumed within hours of purchase and direct-to-consumer shipments from wineries only make up a small segment of the marketplace.”

While the possibilities of Bill C-311 are exciting, this is just the first step. The law would only apply to shipping from wineries within the country. The law will not effect transfers between monopolies or imports from the United States. Inter-provincial shipping limits will also need to be decided upon.

The question here is Ontario is how will this affect our wine purchasing? David Lawrason wrote back in February that “in Ontario, the limit of this “personal exemption” is still in the hands of the LCBO, and we all wait with bated breath to hear how much wine Father McGuinty and his flock think should be allowed to import before we might be considered ‘traffickers’.  But hey, even a single case minimum would be a help.”

The following BC beauty is being released today in VINTAGES. Here’s to hoping more big reds and aromatic whites out of BC (and Nova Scotia for that matter) will soon be available to Winetarians.

Black Widow Single Vineyard Hourglass 2008 (0258822, $54.00), velveteen in texture, owns an Oyosoos Larose-like liqueur. Gemmish cut and clarity, if not a touch syrupy, but five years should stretch out the thick lines. This is big for Merlot, possessive of a Joan Holloway hourglass figure, disingenuous and exploitive of its sultry French oak flavours. Watch out it don’t black widow you after the first glass.  90

 

Good to go!