Manitobans toast Canadian booze

Premier Wab Kinew says Liquor Marts’ refusal to order U.S. booze has changed Manitobans’ drinking preferences and boosted sales of Canadian alcohol.

“People started drinking more local, to the tune of $21 million more in sales of local products through the Liquor Marts,” Kinew said in an interview with the Free Press.

In March 2025, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries removed American booze from Liquor Mart shelves and halted all orders.

“Obviously, taking U.S. booze off the shelves, people change what they’re drinking,” Kinew said. “What was interesting is when we put the American stuff back, the Canadian products continued to be consumed at the higher level.”

Liquor Marts held a “last chance” sale on American wine, liqueur and mixed drinks last month to off-load its stockpile of U.S. booze. In December it sold some of the stock and gave the money to charity.

“Even when we brought it back for the lead up to Christmas and then, more recently, the stuff that was expiring, we haven’t seen the locally produced stuff take an impact,” Kinew said Friday.

“It’s still like people are permanently adjusting their tastes towards local (products),” said the premier, who doesn’t drink alcohol.

Following the return and sell-off of U.S. products in December, there was a sustained preference for Canadian products — up six per cent for spirits and seven per cent for wine, information provided by the province shows.

Canadian wine and spirits accounted for nearly $21 million in year-over-year sales growth — from fiscal 2024-25 to 2025-26 — mainly driven by the reallocation of consumer spending toward Canadian products following the removal of U.S. offerings, it said.

MLL added more than 380 new Canadian SKUs or stock keeping units that internally track inventory, sales, and product variations, between March 2025 and June 2026.

Kinew said Manitoba is “fighting very hard” for a win in the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade Agreement (CUSMA), and he let his fellow premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney know it during a conference call on the status of the negotiations June 10.

“I jokingly said, ‘No CUSMA, no boozma,’” he said, repeating the line he first delivered to reporters on June 5 that may become a Kinew catchphrase after garnering plenty of social media attention.

“That is the one thing we’ve done that’s really shaken the Trump administration,” the premier said. “They raise it continuously.”

He said the prime minister supports Manitoba’s decision and hasn’t asked the province to put U.S. booze back on its shelves while U.S. tariffs remain and CUSMA talks languish.

“If we get a really good outcome… you could potentially see the U.S. booze return,” Kinew said.

“If we could get back to a more stable trading relationship, I actually think that that would be a good outcome for the broader economy. I think even Manitoba distillers and breweries should welcome that because what we saw recently is people changed what they’re drinking.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca