Quebec will allow consumers to buy their alcoholic beverages in other Canadian provinces, without constraint of limits.
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On Tuesday, the Minister for the Economy, Lucie Lecours, announced the end of restrictions, as of April 7, on the quantities of wine, beer and spirits that can be brought back to Quebec during trips elsewhere in the country.
Until now, it was forbidden to bring back more than 3 liters of spirits, 9 liters of wine and 24.6 liters of beer. The Legault government announced in December 2021 that it wanted to change this measure in order to align its policy with that in force in the majority of the other provinces.
“The quantitative limits for the interprovincial transport of alcoholic beverages represented an outdated restriction for the Quebec population and harmed interprovincial trade,” noted Ms.me Lecours.
Photo d’archives, Stevens Leblanc
This measure will allow Quebeckers near Ontario to buy more alcohol from the LCBO. However, they will have to do so in person, as restrictions for online purchases remain in place.
However, the regulations stipulate that the alcohol must be intended for personal consumption and not for resale. A restaurateur or a bar owner will therefore not be able to run bargains in other provinces.
In 2019, a report from the Canadian Free Trade Agreement proposed to remove or increase quantitative limits on alcoholic beverages for personal consumption.
End of the SAQ monopoly claimed
At the Montreal Economic Institute (IEDM), management is of the opinion that the government should now tackle the liberalization of the sale of alcohol across the province.
“It is high time to allow Quebec entrepreneurs to play on equal terms by opening the market to competition,” says Gabriel Giguère, public policy analyst at the MEI.