Canadian wineries say scrapping provincial trade barriers would add billions to GDP

Canada’s wine sector is worth more than $10 billion a year and the industry says a few tweaks — like scrapping domestic trade barriers — could add billions of dollars to the national economy. 

A new report commissioned by the Wine Growers of Canada says the sector could be worth an extra $3.7 billion if Canadians drank more homegrown wine. 

It’s aiming to get domestic consumption to 51 per cent over the next 15 years, up from the current 40 per cent. 

Wine growers say one of the biggest obstacles is that there’s no national system allowing wineries to ship their product direct to consumers in other provinces. 

They say that fragments the market, preventing wineries from growing their sales enough to invest in more acres of grapes and increased production. 

Just three provinces allow direct-to-consumer shipping from anywhere in the country, though many are working to relax the rules in response to the U.S. trade war.  

“We’re probably the only retail sector in the country that has to say no to a consumer when they come and visit our winery and say, ‘Can you ship this to my home province?’” Dan Paszkowski, president of the Wine Growers of Canada, said in an interview.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2026.

By Devin Stevens | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.