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No easy resolution is in sight for the ongoing Alberta/B.C. trade war. A defiant B.C. government is taking out newspaper ads encouraging their citizens to spite Alberta by drinking more wine. Alberta, meanwhile, issued valentines to B.C. carrying the poem “roses are red, violets are fine, let’s build a pipeline and we’ll take back your wine.”

One thing is clear in this war: If B.C. and Alberta decide to go all-out, there is little to stop this from descending into a devastating tit-for-tat dispute.

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Below, our analysis of just how ridiculous this could get.

This trade war is already breaking the law

“All Articles of the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of any one of the Provinces shall, from and after the Union, be admitted free into each of the other Provinces,” reads Section 121 of the British North America Act, the founding document of Canada — and a document that predates the existence of both Alberta and the province of British Columbia. “No provincial government has the legislative authority to stop interprovincial trade,” said Ian Blue, a lawyer in the “Comeau” Supreme Court case looking to challenge provincial restrictions on the importation of alcohol. B.C. and Alberta’s fight has been unconstitutional from the get-go, so the gloves are already off.