Nova Scotia selling off its American booze, donating proceeds to charity
Posted Nov 27, 2025 04:45:49 PM.
Last Updated Nov 27, 2025 05:45:22 PM.
HALIFAX — Nova Scotia is selling off its remaining stock of alcohol products from the United States and donating the proceeds to charity.
The province pulled American booze from its liquor store shelves earlier this year in response to tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Premier Tim Houston said Thursday that Nova Scotians already paid for the products and he doesn’t want it to go to waste.
“We remain committed to a Team Canada approach to tariffs and trade. We will not be ordering any more from the United States once this inventory is gone,” Houston said in a news release.
The provincial government said the inventory of mostly wine and spirits is worth about $14 million. Its sale would return about $4 million to the province once expenses were deducted.
Accordingly, the government will donate roughly $4 million in the coming weeks to Feed Nova Scotia and other charity food organizations, the release said.
“There’s no profit to be had for the province of Nova Scotia selling this,” Houston told a cabinet meeting Thursday. “We want to get rid of it, and we think Nova Scotia should benefit.”
Provinces’ refusal to sell U.S. liquor has been a “thorny issue” at the bargaining table between Canada and the United States, he added.
The booze will be back on sale beginning Monday in provincial liquor stores.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2025.
— By Sarah Smellie in St. John’s
— With files from Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax
The Canadian Press
