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The Saskatchewan government said on Monday that due to concerns about the announcement on Friday banning certain alcohol products, it had decided on a new approach — focusing on removing U.S.-produced alcohol.
The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) released a list of more than 50 American alcohol brands it won’t be purchasing in retaliation against the threat of tariffs from the United States on March 21.
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CKOM News has requested a list of products still subject to the ban but had not received it at the time of publication.
On March 24, the provincial government said, “the sale and distribution of 54 Canadian-produced American brands will now resume.”
Western Canada at Restaurants Canada said the policy ban could have an unintended boomerang effect on Saskatchewan’s economy since some of the banned liquor with U.S. labels is manufactured in Canada, such as Bud Light, Coors Light, Budweiser and Michelob Lite.
Beer Canada President CJ Hélie welcomed the return of products like Miller High Life and Blue.
“We believe Saskatchewan has made the right decision to realign its approach to be consistent with how other provinces have focused on U.S. produced alcohol only, not Canadian made beer,” he said.
Hélie said the ban would have been a “gut punch” to Saskatchewan farmers whose barley goes to producing Bud Light and Budweiser beer brands.
“The original decision was reversed in such a timely manner that we were able to avoid any irreparable harm on businesses or workers,” he said.
Alana Ross, Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, said the decision came after concerns fizzed over from different groups who were concerned that products were made in Canada.
“I promised to take it back,” she said. “We took it back, and the decision was made that we needed to be in alignment with the other provinces in Canada.”
Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, have directed their liquor regulators to stop buying all American alcohol, while B.C. has banned liquor from “red states” that voted for Trump last fall.
Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck said these mistakes wouldn’t have been made if proper consultation was done before the ban took place.
— With files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie and Lisa Schick and Canadian Press
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