British-owned Canadian whiskey is at the center of a dispute between the two provinces that is testing a unified “Team Canada” approach against U.S. tariffs.
This comes after whiskey maker Diageo announced it would close some of its bottling plants in Ontario to move them closer to U.S. consumers.
Soon after, Ontario Premier Doug Ford angrily poured a bottle of Crown Royal in front of reporters and said the product would now be removed from provincial liquor stores. This surprised neighboring Manitoba, where Crown Royal Distillery is a major employer in the small town of Gimli.
During a symbolic visit to the Gimli Distillery on Tuesday, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew urged Ford to “do a 180.”
Ford has given no signal that he intends to change course, but in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, Kinew said he remained “optimistic.”
“I know he’s definitely taken his stand, but at the same time, it’s never too late to do the right thing,” Kinew said.
The controversy surrounding Crown Royal, a Canadian whiskey brand introduced by King George VI during his royal tour of Canada in 1939, dates back to August.
That’s when Diageo first announced it would close its Amherstburg, Ont., bottling facility after 50 years of operation.
The U.K.-based company said last summer that it planned to close the plant in February as part of a broader restructuring to improve its North American supply chain and, much to Ford’s disappointment, move its bottling operations closer to the United States.
“Here’s what I think about Crown Royal,” he said shortly after Diageo’s announcement, before pouring an entire bottle of whiskey on the ground at a press conference, calling Diageo owners “stupid as a hammer.”
He then vowed to “do harm” to the company and urged Canadians to boycott its products.
The company said its bottling operations for markets outside Canada and the United States will be relocated to its Quebec facility, southwest of Montreal.
Ford hasn’t said it will move any operations to the U.S., but the company has speculated that it will.
“It’s all going to go to Alabama,” he said earlier this month. “Mark my words.”
Ford also pledged to remove whiskey from the shelves of Ontario liquor stores where it operates. The Liquor Board of Ontario is the largest wholesale buyer of alcohol in North America. According to Diageo, Crown Royal is the best-selling whiskey.
Manitoba is now pleading with Ford to change his mind.
The Crown Royal Distillery plant is a major driver of business in the town of Gimli, which is home to about 2,300 people, Premier Kinew said.
He warned Ford that the boycott could unintentionally harm Canadians.
Diageo employs more than 500 people across Canada, including 100 in Ontario, separate from those working at the Amherstburg site, the company told the BBC.
“Let’s focus on coming together and not taking action that will harm other Canadian workers,” Kinew said, noting Canada has “no shortage of economic challenges” due to the tariffs it faces from the U.S. and China.
Nicknamed “Captain Canada” by some, Ford developed a reputation for fighting U.S. tariffs and job losses in Ontario.
Ford specifically led a lawsuit to remove American alcohol from Canadian stores in retaliation for the levy, which later became a trade issue for the Trump administration.
He frequently appeared on major American networks, advocating for free trade between the two countries.
Recently, President Trump abruptly halted trade talks with Canada after anti-tariff ads commissioned by the state aired on U.S. television.
Nonetheless, Ford’s response to Diageo was applauded by the local union representing more than 200 workers at the currently uncertain Amherstburg plant.
“This is how we fight the trade war,” Unifor President Lana Payne said after Ford first called for a boycott last September.
But the United Food & Commercial Workers, the union representing Diageo workers outside Ontario, accused Ford of pulling a “stunt” that “is a direct attack on the livelihoods of hundreds of Canadian workers.”
Kinew, who enjoys the highest approval ratings of any Canadian premier, acknowledged Ford is standing up for Ontarians but said he is “just as Canadian as the people here in Gimli.”
He invited Ford to visit Manitoba to discuss the issue at the weekend’s ice hockey game between Toronto and Winnipeg.
“We can fix this and put this episode behind us,” Kinew said.
Kinew told the BBC that Ford had “politely declined” the invitation, but noted that the two were still on good terms.
“We will find a way to talk to each other, even if we are on different sides of this issue,” he said.
