Alberta to stop importing B.C. wine effective immediately

The war of words between Alberta and B.C. surrounding the Trans Mountain Pipeline is becoming more serious.

On Tuesday, Alberta’s Premier Rachel Notley announced her province will immediately boycott all imports of wines from B.C.

"I'm hearing from Albertans everywhere I go is that we have to send a clear message to BC to make our point. We can do that by boycotting BC wine," tweeted Notely on Tuesday.

"The wine industry is important in BC. Not nearly as important as energy industry is to Alberta and Canada, but important nonetheless."

The announcement comes following a dispute between B.C. and Alberta that began with the B.C. government announcing restrictions on bitumen transports. A move that would stall the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Last week, a restaurant in Fort McMurray made headlines with its Facebook post announcing it had pulled all B.C. wines from its wine list.

The Facebook post saw plenty of reaction, with many of the over 200 comments voicing support for the restaurant's decision.

Restaurants Canada has now released an official statement in response the Alberta Premier's announcement:

"Ordering the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission to immediately halt B.C. wine imports to Alberta is a reckless decision. Average citizens will pay for this snap judgment," read the statement.

"It is using Alberta consumers and B.C. businesses as pawns and dragging them into and pitting them against each other in a provincial trade war."

Read Notley's entire response via Twitter below:

Albertans from all walks of life have reached out to offer support in our ongoing campaign to protect our jobs from the unprovoked & unconstitutional attack on the Trans-Mountain pipeline that BC launched last week. I want to thank Albertans for their support and for their ideas.

— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) February 6, 2018

That’s why today I am announcing that the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Control Board – the AGLC – will put an immediate halt to the import of BC wine to Alberta.

— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) February 6, 2018

In 2017, that amounted to roughly 17.2 million bottles or over 1.4 million cases. That’s about $70 million paid to BC wineries. Today’s action will also include the AGLC stepping up enforcement on direct to consumer sales.

— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) February 6, 2018

This is one good step to waking BC up to the fact they can’t attack our industry without a response from us. This action will harm the BC wine industry & I wish it didn’t have to be this way. ...We don’t take this lightly.

— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) February 6, 2018