In the 2012 budget announcement Finance Minister Kevin Falcon indicated that the Government would privatize the liquor distribution warehouses in BC. The Government can thereby receive a one-time windfall in the sale of these assets and it no longer needs to manage the distribution of liquor to stores in BC.
Whether you agree with this is largely an issue of ideology. It appears the process may be tainted by virtue of the involvement of lobbyists who donated money toward the Premier’s campaign to lead the BCLiberal Party. You can read about that here.
We suspect that this is the first step to selling off BC Government Liquor Stores, as was done in Alberta over a decade ago. You may wonder why this is happening now. The Party has been in power for over a decade. Why would they have waited so long?
In 2002 the Government set out to renovate stores where there were long leases, and allowed others to fall into disrepair. There were new counters, new shelves, new paint and flooring. Some of the stores appeared to look as nice as many other retail stores. Of course, this would have made these stores more attractive to potential buyers, particularly when the Government was concerned about selling the locations with lengthy leases.
Noteworthy is that the private stores do not have unionized employees. And one can imagine that the sale of the Government stores would mean significant changes for the employees of BC Liquor Distribution.
In late 2002 it appeared to us that the Government was poised to privatize everything to do with the sale of alcohol in BC. However, for the employees of BC Liquor Distribution it just so happens that there was a late Christmas gift. Everything changed when then Premier Gordon Campbell was arrested for drunk driving while on vacation in Hawaii in early January 2003.
Premier Campbell made a mistake. He drank too much and he was arrested. To his credit he quit drinking entirely, entered a guilty plea and paid the fine. He also voluntarily gave up his driver’s license, which was probably no hardship bearing in mind that he had an RCMP escort driving him wherever he needed to go.
MADD called for his resignation. But they did not push too hard. His mug shot was often used by the NDP and others to embarrass him. Rich Coleman said he was disappointed. Premier Campbell said it would have no impact on his ability to do his job.
But it was interesting to note that there appeared to be no more moves toward privatization of BC Liquor Stores. Despite his remorse and teetotalism, it seems that the BCLiberals were not interested in making moves that would remind people of Premier Campbell’s arrest. Simply put, the optics of liquor stores being privatized by a Premier who had been convicted of DUI made it so the Government lost all enthusiasm for the plan. And the entire program was put on hold.
Now that Mr. Campbell is no longer the Premier, the doors are open to privatization of liquor distribution and sales. The first and least objectionable step is to privatize the part we do not see, i.e. distribution. Stores come next.
Epilogue:
If Mr. Campbell was still the Premier, privatization would not be on the table. He was pushed out for not disclosing the HST plans sooner. In our view the HST system is greatly superior to the PST & GST system. In any event, by rushing Mr. Campbell to the exit, his opponents expedited privatization of the sale and distribution of booze.
Ultimately this will mean job losses and perhaps the Government will lose revenue that is then made by some private sector company with links to the Government. Still, bearing in mind that alcohol is sold in so many places other than liquor stores, the argument that this must be run by the Government does not carry much weight. It comes down to ideology. Do you believe that the Government must be in the business of retail sales of a lawful product that you can buy in many other competing establishments? Alternatively, why should the Government not rake in the money selling booze?