LIVE SOON Police arrest 3 in killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Liquor connoisseurs the world over are pouring out Russia-made vodka in a show of support for Ukraine, but the boycott is impacting distillers from other regions, some of which are trying to give aid to Ukrainian refugees.
“Generally, the world is taking anything off the shelves that looks like Russia,” Intars Geidans, chairman of the board at Latvijas Balzams, the largest alcoholic beverage producer in the Baltic states, told CTV National News.
No brand knows this better than the maker of Stolichnaya vodka, which announced a major rebrand last week in direct response to its founder's "vehement position" against the Putin regime and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Stolichnaya, which will now be sold and marketed under its nickname “Stoli,” has long been marketed as Russian vodka, despite its production facilities being located in Latvia.
In an effort to further distance the brand’s Russian ties, Stoli Group says it will only use Slovakian sources to make sure that none of its ingredients are sourced from Russia. The company is also offering jobs to Ukrainian refugees in Latvia.
“More than anything, I wish for 'Stoli' to represent peace in Europe and solidarity with Ukraine,” Stoli Group founder and Russian-born billionaire Yuri Shefler said in a statement last week.
Shefler, a fierce critic of Putin, is asking consumers to focus their boycotts carefully on Russian brands, reminding spirit enthusiasts that not all vodka is Russian.
Smirnoff, which brands itself as the world’s number one vodka, has also made an effort to distance itself from its Russian roots, updating its website with a banner that reads “proudly made in America.”
"While Smirnoff had its beginnings in Russia, Vladimir Smirnoff fled the country during the Revolution and re-established the brand in Europe more than a century ago," the homepage reads.
Originally founded in Moscow in 1864, Smirnoff has been operating in America since 1934 and is owned and operated by British company Diageo. The product is distilled in Illinois.
Russian-made vodka accounts for a very small percentage of the roughly US$7 billion in annual vodka sales, according to the Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS), a national trade organization that represents spirits makers.
In the United States, less than one per cent of vodka consumed is produced in Russia and more than half of all vodka consumed domestically is actually made in the U.S., according to data from IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, a global firm that tracks alcohol sales.
- With files from the Associated Press
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Foreign interference by China did not affect the overall results of the 2019 and 2021 general elections won by Justin Trudeau's Liberals, a federal commission of inquiry has found.
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Skyrocketing airfare prices are linked to heightened competition and rising food and fuel, according to the CAA.
A funeral is being held today for hockey broadcasting legend Bob Cole in his hometown of St. John's, N.L.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Hope Hicks, once a longtime trusted aide in Donald Trump’s inner circle, is testifying Friday in the New York hush money trial after being subpoenaed.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.