The Government of Alberta has made their next move in its ongoing chess game with British Columbia.

The feud began a couple weeks ago when the Government of BC announced plans to stop the shipment of bitumen products between the provinces while they conduct an environmental review.

The move put the future of the Transmountain Pipeline expansion in jeopardy, just months after the Federal Government approved it.

Last week, Premier Rachel Notley held an emergency meeting with her cabinet to discuss what options to take to let BC know that they don't agree with their position.

That meeting led to Alberta cutting off talks for purchasing electricity from BC.

Earlier today (February 6th), Notley announced the Government's next step.

"The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Control port, will put an immediate halt to the import of BC wine to Alberta. In 2017 that amounted to roughly 17.2 million bottles or over 1.4 million cases."

That amount works out to roughly $700 Million in purchases from Alberta.

Notley says it was an extremely tough decision, one she hoped she'd never have to make.

"I honestly wish that it did not have to be this way. Good trade relationships built on rules are critical to a functioning economy. The fact of the matter is that Alberta has always been the most likely to follow these rules and play by these rules of any province in the country."

Alberta is confident that they'll have the support of the Federal Government who assured that the Transmountain Pipeline would be built.

Notley says the boycott of BC wine will be lifted when their government retracts their restrictions on bitumen shipments.

 

READ MORE:

Alberta Fires Back At B.C. Over Pipeline Dispute

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