B.C. man to protest ‘stupid’ law by illegally transporting wine to Calgary

A Vancouver man is protesting a prohibition-era law that makes it illegal to transport alcohol between provinces.

“I’m going to do (it) on Friday the 13th at high noon at the B.C.-Alberta border. I’m going to have a nice wooden case of wine that I’m going to walk across the border transparently,” said Terry David Mulligan, a broadcaster and character actor.

According to federal prohibition legislation first passed in 1928 to curb domestic bootlegging, it is illegal to carry alcohol between provinces. To purchase alcohol from out-of-province wineries, consumers must contact their local liquor board and ask to have it ordered.

“That’s stupid. It’s stupid. People aren’t prepared to dance (to the liquor board’s) tune. It’s unconstitutional, it’s illegal, it’s odious,” Mulligan said.

Local liquor boards holding onto the 83-year-old law are making a cash grab, he added.

The prohibition leaves small wineries in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley unable to ship their visiting customer’s wine, said Mulligan.

“I don’t think any one of us trains for social disobedience, so I’m taking this one day at a time, one step at a time,” he said, adding he plans to inform the boards in B.C. and Alberta of his scheme. “I’m trying to make my position as clear as possible on behalf of all the people in the wine business who can’t stand up because they’re being smacked around by the liquor control boards.”

The injunction against domestic booze flow is in line with other countries, said Roland Dunning, the executive director of the Canadian Association of Liquor Jurisdictions.

Retracting the federal law would “undermine the role of control of the product and it would reduce revenues that would be going into the provincial treasury,” he said. “Alcohol is a controlled substances . . . and it’s a major revenue generator for provinces. Taxes on alcohol fund a lot of social programs, hospitals and schools.”

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Patrick Webb said the police had not been called to observe Mulligan’s border crossing. If the provincial liquor board asked for help, the RCMP would assist, he said.

Mulligan remains unconcerned: “No one has ever been charged under this law, but they still hold this over the head of the Canadian wine industry.”

Mark Hicken, a wine lawyer with an advocacy agency calling itself the Vintage law Group, said the rule must be struck down.

“The original purpose of the law, to stop bootlegging traffic, is long gone. Now it’s used by the provincial liquor monopolies to extract money from consumers to the greatest extent possible. They’re really focused on maintaining absolute control.”

In the global context, he said: “It’s an embarrassment.”

Rather than abolish the boards altogether, Hicken suggests reforming the law to make it possible for wineries to ship to consumers directly — while still paying the local sin tax.