On Tuesday, December 9th, Ross Harrington, owner of the Wine Kitz location in Clayton Park, Halifax, NS, is scheduled to go to court to defend himself against the following charges: keeping liquor for sale; manufacture and keeping of liquor; and use of premise for storage of liquor. All three of these charges stem from Ross’ 2006 attempt to introduce in-store winery services to Nova Scotia (for a detailed description of in-store winery services go to http://winekitzatlantic.ca/winery/). These charges are in spite of the fact that this Halifax location has obtained an in-store winery license from the Excise Tax division of the federal government.
In-store winery services have been a mainstay industry in British Columbia and Ontario for over 12 years. In the past 5 years the concept has also been introduced in Quebec, and in our neighouring province of New Brunswick. Additionally, the Saskatchewan government is currently meeting with the player in the industry in order to draft up legislation to introduce in-store winery in that province by Spring of 2009. Our sources tell us that beautiful Prince Edward Island may soon be following suit. So, the question begs: Why not Nova Scotia?
In such a transient world, the shop owner/operators are asked this question on a daily basis by many of our customers who have previously lived in provinces which offer this service. Additionally, our fellow New Brunswick owner/operators tell us they have many Nova Scotia residents who regularly use their do-it-yourself services.
Prior to Ross Harrington’s 2006 attempt, many local home wine shop owner/operators have attempted to have the government amend it’s antiquated Liquor Act and permit the introduction of do-it-yourself-wine shops.
In our continued efforts over several years to convince our provincial government to amend the Act, we have hired a lobbyist, we have hired an outside consultant and we have provided the government with a detailed study which included economic impact, impact on commercial wine sales, provincial tax revenue and much, much more.
Needless to say, our efforts to date have hit a brick wall. One of the few responses was a letter from Ernie Fage, then minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Liquor Act stating “the Wine Association Industry of Nova Scotia has developed a long-term strategic plan for the industry that government has chosen to support, and the u-vint concept may not be consistent with this approach.”
Such a response raises so many questions. The first being whatever happened to free enterprise in Nova Scotia? Both segments of the wine industry have successfully co-existed in provinces with much larger commercial wine industries than Nova Scotia. Why is there a need by our provincial government to hold back one segment of the legitimate wine industry in their effort to support another segment of the industry?
Another question which comes to mind is where is our provincial government’s vision? We have an opportunity to establish a bona-fide industry that will create both employment and self-employment outside of the traditional major centers. While tens of thousands of satisfied customers are using this service in other provinces, Nova Scotians are once again forced to play second fiddle to the rest of the country.
Will things ever change? Stay tuned………with Ross Harrington championing our cause, December 9th may be our tell- all date.
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