Six-pack of beer will rise $3 under B.C. NDP: retailers
Last Updated: Friday, May 1, 2009 | 12:08 PM PT
CBC News
The proverbial Joe Six-Pack now has at least one good reason to sit up and pay attention to the B.C. election campaign — some B.C. NDP campaign promises might lead to higher beer prices, according to beer and wine retailers.
An industry group representing 690 beer and wine stores in B.C. says two promises made by the NDP during the provincial election campaign could combine to push the cost of a $12 six-pack of beer to $15, with similar prices increase for bottles of wine.
B.C. NDP leader Carole James has promised to raise B.C.'s minimum wage from $8 for regular workers and $6 for trainees to $10 across the board as part of her campaign platform for the May 12 provincial election.
James has also promised to cut the discount operators of B.C.'s private beer and wine retailers get when they buy alcohol wholesale from the government — from 16 per cent to 10 per cent below the retail price.
James says her proposal will dip into the retail stores' big profit margins while providing extra revenue for the government to fund education and health care.
It would also put the private retailers on the same footing as rural grocery stores that sell beer and wine under a different licensing system, allowing all retailers to set their own prices equally, she said.
"It's up to them as businesses if they pass that cost on, but it's ensuring there's a level playing field between the public and the private liquor stores," said James on Thursday.
Retailers fear rising costs
But according to Kim Haaksead, the executive director of the Alliance of Beverage Licensees, cutting the wholesale discounts and hiking the minimum wage will drive up costs for small retailers by 25 per cent or more and force some to layoff staff or go out of business.
Haaksead said she believes the NDP would like to drive private retailers out of business altogether so it could open up more government liquor stores staffed by union employees.
B.C. Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell, whose government opened up the retail liquor industry in B.C to private businesses, said the current system is working fine as it is.
"I think actually what we have is a good balanced system that is going to move forward. We have to continue to encourage economic activity," said Campbell.
But the B.C. NDP is also questioning the ties between the private liquor retailers and the B.C. Liberals. It pointed out that Gary Collins, the former finance minister, sits on the board of the Liquor Stores Group, which along with its subsidiaries, Liquor Barn and Liquor Group, donated $35,000 to the BC Liberals between 2005 and 2008.
