As Canadians look to support their country with their dollar amid an ongoing trade war with the U.S., a Vernon distiller who represents the industry provincially is speaking up against so-called "maple leaf washing" in B.C. liquor stores.
Tyler Dyck, CEO of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery and president of the Craft Distillers Guild of B.C., says the mislabelling of products with maple leaf flags hurts B.C. producers.
According to Dyck, maple leaf washing is "inappropriately applying Canadian identity to a product that is not made in Canada." He says companies are taking advantage of a moment in which Canadians are trying to buy and support local in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
"They're thinking they're buying local when in fact they're buying these international brands that are just masquerading as local," he said.
A glance at the shelves in Venon's BC Liquor Store shows maple leaf stickers beneath many bottles of alcohol, including Bacardi rum, a product Dyck highlighted as an example of maple leaf washing.
He said Bacardi is made in Puerto Rico and shipped to Canada at 80 per cent alcohol content, as this is cheaper than shipping bottled products due to the heaviness of glass. He said the rum only gets diluted and bottled in Canada and shouldn't be labelled a Canadian product.
"The only thing that happens in Canada is they put city municipal water in it to water it down to bottle strength," Dyck said.
According to Dyck, there are many products that are merely bottled in Canada that have the maple leaf sticker in BC Liquor Stores.
In March, B.C. announced it was removing all American alcohol from B.C. Liquor Stores as a response to tariffs, but Dyck says this hasn't happened in reality due to the province "turning a blind eye."
"You've got Southern Comfort. Well, Southern Comfort is from Kentucky. Yes, it's bottled in Quebec, just like Bacardi is bottled in Quebec, but by a computer and a bottling line, and that's owned by the parent company from the U.S.," he said. "All of the money continues to bleed out of Canada."
The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General told The Morning Star that the removal of products from BC Liquor Stores, and the ban on imports, applies to U.S. liquor products that are manufactured in the U.S.
"The ban does not include U.S. brands that are produced or blended and bottled domestically that support B.C. and Canadian manufacturers and jobs in local communities," the ministry said.
Dyck isn't satisfied with this answer, saying the manufacturing jobs are negligible given the level of automation at work in the bottling process.
"If you look at a mechanized bottling line, there's very little human participation, so these are not value-added jobs in Canada," he said.
"(The province) is intentionally allowing for the duping of British Columbians who think they're doing the right thing," Dyck added. "British Columbians now more than ever are trying to vote with their pocketbooks to support Canada, and I think British Columbians would be enraged if they knew that these Canadian flag stickers have zero value."
Products are either labelled a Product of Canada or Made in Canada depending on where they were processed and the origin of the ingredients. Product of Canada claims are subject to a high threshold of 98 per cent Canadian content, while Made in Canada claims are subject to a 51 per cent threshold. For both labels, the last substantial processing of the product must have taken place in Canada.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has jurisdiction over the legal requirements regarding country of origin labels on alcoholic beverages. In response to concerns about maple leaf washing, the agency said retailers are responsible for the accuracy of any store signage or advertisements that are displayed to promote the sale of a product.
"This means that the information they promote online or on grocery shelves should be truthful and not misleading," the CFIA told The Morning Star in an email.
The CFIA says there is no official logo for Canadian food products and a maple leaf on a product does not always mean the product is Canadian. It said the maple leaf could indicate a number of things, including that the product is a Product of Canada, was made by a Canadian company, or meets a Canadian standard.
The CFIA said it has seen an increase in complaints related to country of origin claims on food labels or in advertisements of late.
"Accurate labelling creates a fair marketplace that benefits both consumers and businesses. It is the food industry’s responsibility to ensure that all food products they sell in Canada meet Canada’s legislative requirements," the agency said.
It added it will take enforcement action if "non-compliance" is found, though it made no mention of whether any enforcement has taken place in response to maple leaf washing.
"The CFIA takes labelling issues seriously and wants to know about products that consumers think are labelled in a misleading manner," the CFIA said, adding people can report mislabelling through its food complaint or concern webpage.
The ministry said liquor suppliers who sell their products to the BC Liquor Distribution Branch for resale in B.C. are contractually obligated to ensure their product labels are accurate.
Like liquor companies diluting their product once it comes into Canada, Dyck says the misleading labels dilute the real Made in Canada liquor market and take business away from local producers.
"Ninety-nine per cent of the (bottles) that have Canadian flags on them were not produced in Canada," he said.
