by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 12:40 PM ET, Wed August 26, 2026
As the trade war with the U.S. intensifies and Canadians are digging in on buying domestic products, some travellers are wondering, why does the nation’s flag carrier continue to stock U.S. liquor?
Alcohol has been a particular point of contention between the two countries, with most provinces (Alberta and Saskatchewan excepted) removing U.S. liquor from store shelves as part of the “Buy Canadian” push. During the recently collapsed trade talks, Prime Minister Carney reportedly asked premiers to consider restocking U.S. alcohol in local liquor stores. As it is though, you won’t be finding Kentucky bourbon or other American products in most of the country.
Following a since-deleted Reddit post where a user posted about drinking Jack Daniels on an Air Canada flight, Global News reports that the country’s largest airline is still serving American booze, however.
When questioned about that, an Air Canada representative said that as a global airline with international passengers and routes to and from U.S. airports, it stocks and serves products in accordance with customer preference and demand.
“We always feature at least one Canadian wine on every international flight, and we’ve made a deliberate shift toward Canadian spirits and Canadian producers,” the spokesperson told Global. “In addition to the range of Canadian products we proudly feature, we also carry some internationally recognized products that are particularly important to our global customer base, including U.S. bourbon.”
Catering to American tastes isn’t as much of a worry at Porter Airlines. “Porter is a Canadian airline and we emphasize partnering with high-quality Canadian brands whenever possible,” they stated. The news article clarified that Porter presently doesn’t serve any U.S. alcohol on its flights.
WestJet did not respond for the cited article, but its published onboard menu features Canadian beer and wine, and a mix of Canadian and international (but not U.S.) liquor, with the disclaimer that the menu was representative of what’s available onboard and is subject to change.
While it might seem incongruent that U.S. alcohol mostly isn’t available on the ground in Canada but it is available in the sky, passengers are under no obligation to buy or drink it. Judging from the strength and solidarity of the Buy Canadian movement, it seems likely many won’t.
Topics From This Article to Explore
