One of the more puzzling, if not downright suspicious, moves by the B.C. Liberal government is its out-the-blue insistence on privatizing the Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB).
It has led to speculation that other major changes are on the way - potentially paving the way for raising the price of booze and perhaps closing some government liquor stores as well.
Whenever a government appears to be in its dying days and its politicians start tinkering with liquor policies, my political antennae starts quivering. Mixing politics and liquor can be a recipe for disaster.
The government has yet to provide any business case for privatizing the LDB. NDP critic, Shane Simpson, has asked repeatedly in the legislature for any details supporting the sale, but has been rebuffed by the Minister Rich Coleman.
Coleman has admitted the decision to sell the branch was only made a week before the February budget was tabled.
The original sell-off date was in 2015, but has suddenly been moved up to March 2013 (before the scheduled election).
And last week the branch's general manager told industry reps there is no time for consultation because of the "tight timelines" involved. Why the urgency?
I've talked to private industry representatives, who fear their distribution costs will increase if a private company begins running things instead of the government. Naturally, those increased costs will be passed onto consumers.
The industry looks at Alberta when it comes to liquor policies, and shudders. A prominent brewer in B.C. - Matt Phillips, of Phillips Brewing Co. - says he pays almost twice as high a distribution cost for a case of beer in Alberta compared to his cost in B.C. ($1.53 versus 78 cents).
Further clouding the issue is the impression that one particular company may be the front-runner in the bidding. The company, Exel Logistics, employs two prominent Liberal insiders as its lobbyists.
One of those lobbyists, Patrick Kinsella, is a former campaign chair for the Liberal party and was a key advisor on Premier Christy Clark's leadership campaign. A leaked 2009 internal corporate memo from Exel shows the company thinks it could "influence the writing of the request for proposal" in the bidding process by using its "strong relationship" with Coleman.
Coleman has heatedly denied any favouritism in the bidding process but, as in politics, the "optics" here are brutal. Of further concern is the fact that Exel also operates the distribution system in Alberta.
Industry representatives in B.C. characterize Alberta's system as a chaotic mess driving up prices.
The bidding process also proposes that government liquor stores have standalone profit and loss reporting, instead of the current collective reporting. Since some stores are considerably more profitable than others, this could potentially lead to the closure of some stores and the opening of more private stores (which pay their employees less than what can be earned in government stores).
The old issue of "dual licenses" has also resurfaced (allowing pretty well any restaurant to turn into a bar at, say, 9 p.m.) and with it comes worries about a proliferation of liquor outlets, which not only greatly expands the availability of alcohol, but also makes sustaining a decent business in that industry that much more difficult.
Add it all up, and you have an industry that affects a huge number of British Columbians potentially getting hammered by major changes - and all with no consultation.
Keep a close eye on this one, folks. Things may get ugly before it's all over.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.
