How to Screw up a Liquor Policy Review

First, have the government of B.C. conduct the review.

Then invite lobbyists and many, many "stakeholders", including people who have absolutely no comprehension (the general public) or previous involvement as either a vendor/licensee or the licensing agency.

Then forget the desired result of the review:  to make liquor purchases available in grocery stores to more conveniently suit the buying public, as in the United States and many travel locations throughout the world...you know....places whose tourists we covet.

Yup, that'll do it.

Only in British Columbia would the result of a liquor policy review end up with no semblance of the desired outcome.

Seems that Parliamentary Secretary John Yap has joined the Ineptocracy crew, judging from the recommendations, which will become policy for the British Columbia Liquor Control and Licensing Branch.

"Ineptocracy...a system of government where the least capable to lead

are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society

least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services

paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers."

So, how's that grocery store thingy working out?
Will you be able to pick up a six-pack along with milk and butter on the way home from work?
Will the tourist from Washington state--arriving in a 53-foot RV--be able to pick up liquor when stopping for groceries or gas?

Hell, no.
He won't even be able to find the Tourism Booth in Vernon.

While the Vancouver Sun newspaper went all "ga ga" over government's planned liquor modernization in its story, the fact remains that you will NOT be able to place milk, butter and a six-pack into your grocery buggy and pay at the cashier.

Not at one cashier anyway.

You will be able to place the milk, butter and six-pack of beer into your grocery buggy.
But only in a few stores here and there.  
Maybe only one store in your city! 
Or maybe a grocery store in an adjacent community.
Because that grocery store had to buy a liquor license from an existing licensee as no new licenses were being issued AND the store could NOT be within 1,000 feet of an existing liquor licensee.  Since most grocery stores and liquor stores are located in malls, often adjacent to one another, that eliminates most grocery stores.
Gas stations?  Nope, won't happen there either, so scratch that off the wish list.

So in one of the rare grocery stores where a liquor licensee is NOT within the 1,000 foot range of sin, you're directed to a separate till to pay for the six-pack of beer.  Likely via a roped off "cattle row" so you can't, absentmindedly of course, head through the exit doors without paying for the six-pack.
Oughta make for some interesting store front-end gyrations.

Back to the RV-tourist from Washington state.
He's disappointed he can't pick up a six-pack at the gas station, so he heads over to the local grocery store.  Repeat the milk, butter and six-pack of beer in the grocery buggy scenario.

Can you just imagine a tourist's comments when he's directed to a separate cashier to pay for the six-pack of beer?  Can you imagine his outrage at the waste of time, can you imagine his disgust at two transaction fees on his debit or VISA card?

It's bloody laughable actually.

This is BC's modernization of liquor laws to welcome tourists into a province hungry for them?

Is this the best that government can come up with?
Seems so.
We'll once again be the laughing stock of the rest of Canada, indeed many nationalities around the world.

Here's the 60-page Final Report.

A list of stakeholder meetings held last Fall, as well as other involved groups is here.

No small grocery stores can expect to add to their customer stream by offering products the public wants.  No gas stations will sell beer and wine.  Only the biggest--like Costco and Superstore--will continue to erode competitors' share of the pie.

"The biggest guys win again," avows Kia.

Sounds familiar.

Let's hope Suzanne Anton, Attorney General, sees the flaws of this Liquor Policy Review.

Prepare to see tail lights heading out of town.
They're American and European tourists.

Yap Succumbs to "Bigs" Lobby

Parliamentary Secretary, John Yap, has just completed his task of reviewing British Columbia's archaic--dark ages, to some--liquor laws.  The largest percentage of requested changes was that B.C. mirror liquor laws in the United States, and allow liquor to be sold in grocery stores.

"...should've been rephrased to state one-cash-register shopping"

                                                                                                        a consumer

Perennial cynics--following the announcement that the review is now complete with 70 recommendations--aren't surprised by the outcome.

The public demanded convenience, and almost got it.

"One-stop shopping for groceries and a six-pack," says a consumer, "should've been rephrased to state 'one-cash-register shopping'," obviously disappointed that there will need to be a separate cash register for liquor from the registers that serve grocery customers.

Cutting to the chase, what the blog title refers to is the ability of the Big Guys to run roughshod over their smaller competitors and win.  The Big Guys don't have to work harder, yet their retail competition is virtually eliminated as government accedes to the Big Guys' lobby.

It's as though government and the Big Guys are "one".
Maybe reports of the government and the Big Guys being "one" are true; maybe the government does "owe" them something for all their tax contributions and levels of employment.

So was there lobbying by the Big Guys during the liquor policy review.
Well sure there was.

Have a good look at this list of Stakeholder Meetings (halfway down the page, at far right).
Among many others, Loblaws and Costco are listed, and those two will suffice for this example.

John Yap's mandate was, among others, to:

• maintain or increase government revenue
• not increase the number of liquor licenses (731 licenses include private Liquor Retail Stores)

The second item created fervent lobbying by the Bigs.

For the number of liquor licenses in B.C. to NOT increase, yet allow liquor sales in grocery stores, the only outcome is that grocery stores would purchase the liquor licenses of liquor retail stores.

And who but the Bigs can afford to purchase a liquor license?  The Wal Marts, Costco Wholesale, etc. can well afford what the smaller independent grocery stores cannot.

But here's the clincher.
To mitigate the length of paperwork required in any government process, look for the Bigs to simply--and immediately--buy the entire Liquor Retail Store, kit and kaboodle, near one of their locations.

That's where the first mandate point (above) comes in.  It actually increases government revenue far beyond what government had considered.  A real estate purchase triggers property transfer tax.  And the Bigs can afford that too because they now gain equity on the asset before it's resold as a commercial premises, albeit without its liquor license at the subsequent sale.

Left out of the equation are mid-to-small sized, independent grocery stores, whose cash reserves were diminished by the arrival in their communities of the Wal Marts and the Costcos.  They can't afford to purchase an established liquor retail store, let alone the liquor retail store's liquor license.  These smaller grocery stores will continue to see their retail sales erode to the point that many will close when consumers buy their groceries where they can also purchase liquor.

There's big money at stake, and only the Bigs will benefit.
"As usual," say some "and the Bigs get Bigger."

Liquor is a big industry in B.C.
In 2013, British Columbians bought more than $1-billion in beer and $1.9-billion in wine and spirits.

As reported by CBC, big-box retailers like Wal Mart and Costco sell liquor in the USA, and Costco operates 11 liquor outlets adjacent to its warehouses in Alberta -- separate, as per regulation.

Costco assistant veep, Jim Andruski gushes "We embrace the opportunity to bring liquor sales to our Costco locations in B.C."


Smaller independent stores will disappear.
Sigh.

Because of the extra revenue in property tax transfer payments, no-one could honestly say this is the Law of Unintended Consequences.  

"More likely Intended, by both the government and the Bigs," offers Kia.


For the record:  The liquor license at Highlands Golf is not for sale (this review does not affect Highlands).  Skeptical?  Well, neither did the planned RU10/RU30 rezoning of acreages in Coldstream, yet we still participated in forming the Coldstream Acreage Owners' Association to support those that it did.  It's all about principles!