(file photo/CKOM News Staff)

By Lisa Schick/CKOM News Staff

Sask. eliminates provincial cross-border alcohol limits

May 28, 2019 | 1:12 PM

Bringing back a few extra bottles of wine from B.C. or another case of beer from Alberta will no longer have people risking a fine in Saskatchewan — the province has scrapped its limits on bringing back out-of-province alcohol.

Trade and Export Minister Jeremy Harrison made the announcement Tuesday.

“The regulation was approved by cabinet a short while ago and we think it’s the right approach to take,” said Harrison.

He said he doesn’t think the change will have a huge practical impact, either for regular people or for Saskatchewan wallets.

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“I would suspect you would find most citizens didn’t even know there were restrictions on personal importation limits already,” he said.

Harrison said the government tried to look back and find the last time someone was prosecuted, and couldn’t find anything recent.

The limits on alcohol you could bring in from out of province had been nine litres of wine, three litres of spirits, and 24.6 litres of beer, coolers, or a combination of both.

A previous argument against the change was that the province and provincial sellers will lose money, but Harrison isn’t sure people will go flocking over the borders. He said in the last 10 years, mark-up structures have changed, so there isn’t as much of a price difference anymore.

Alcohol is part of a larger discussion on regulations and regulatory harmony between the provinces, said Harrison.

“There’s still a lot more work to do, particularly around beverage alcohol and trade barriers that exist between jurisdictions,” he said.

Saskatchewan joins Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia as the only provinces that don’t have such restrictions. Harrison said that, by making the change, the government is hoping other provinces follow suit.

Harrison explained this was one of the recommendations that came out of the alcoholic beverages working group, which Saskatchewan co-chaired.

The government stressed that the changes apply only to interprovincial importation, not to the duty-free allowance when Canadians bring alcohol in from another country.