Premier Christy Clark is adding her support to a push to overturn a Prohibition-era law preventing B.C. wine from crossing provincial borders.
Outdated federal regulations currently hinder the Okanagan Valley's wine sales by stopping bottle transport across Canada and blocking direct sales between customers and wineries.
"It makes common sense for B.C. wine producers to be able to sell wines to individuals across provincial boundaries," she said at a regional meeting in Penticton on Monday,
Okanagan-Coquihalla Conservative MP Dan Albas said his private member's bill that would legalize wine sales to other provinces would not only be good for the region but for all of Canada.
"When a tourist comes from Alberta or Manitoba and wants to take back some fine B.C. wines with them, they want to be able to sell to that," Albas said.
The bill went through its second reading with support across party lines and now goes on to committee. It will likely go before the Senate in the new year and Albas said that by the end of 2012, Canadians across the country should be able to order B.C.'s bottled grapes.
