Bye bye BCLDB, or not?

[Logitack]

liberals are losing even support from small businesses who will be directly affected by this sell off of the LDB...

The BC Craft Brewers Guild said it is concerned about increases in liquor costs - which would inevitably be passed on to consumers - and also angry that it has not been involved in any consultation with the Liberals.

The provincial-owned Liquor Distribution Branch has two warehouses - in Burnaby and Kamloops - that are staffed by 400 members of the BC Government Employees' Union.

The Christy Clark government wants the properties sold by 2015.

Guild chairman Tod Melnyk said the sell-off would have similar consequences to the privatization of Alberta liquor distribution in 1993.

"The potential increase in pricing which will impact consumer spending ... and therefore directly impact production in BC is also of utmost concern," he said.

Melnyk suggested the government was "rushing this through" without any regard for small business.

"The guild cannot support privatization of the B.C. liquor warehouse when this initiative is creating a private monopoly," he said.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/po ... 05635.html

[NAB]

Gotta try and keep your big contributers (main beneficiaries) happy. It takes big bucks to fight an election, particularly when you are badly down in the polls and only 11 months away from an election. This government has badly underestimated the importance of small businesses and tourism and an able and willing to spend consumer, ...and now will probably reap the consequences of their foolishness that is on the road to killing both in BC. Indications are that domestic consumer dollars are fleeing BC like crazy, and this summer could well be the grandaddy of loss of tourism dollars as well.

Nab

[flamingfingers]

Gotta try and keep your big contributers (main beneficiaries) happy. It takes big bucks to fight an election, particularly when you are badly down in the polls and only 11 months away from an election. This government has badly underestimated the importance of small businesses and tourism and an able and willing to spend consumer, ...and now will probably reap the consequences of their foolishness that is on the road to killing both in BC.

Nab

They are obviously not capable or willing to see the 'big picture'. Pure arrogance and stupidity. And we bear the brunt of that.

[The Green Barbarian]

They are obviously not capable or willing to see the 'big picture'. Pure arrogance and stupidity. And we bear the brunt of that.

Exactly. Both parties are guilty of arrogance and stupidty in spades. We need a better alternative, and the Liberals and NDP are not providing us with this.

[flamingfingers]

Vote in Independents. At this point in time seems like a lost cause but that idea MAY provide us with government that will actually be willing to SERVE the electorate that put them into government.

[logicalview]

Vote in Independents.

Name three.

[Smurf]

I din't think I could name three Liberals or NDP that I truly think are worth voting for at this time. They are all to party whipped.

[flamingfingers]

Some "Business Plan"!!

Liquor privatization… in the dark of the night
Posted on May 24, 2012 by Ian

The BC Liberals posted the LDB privatization business plan on its open government (hahahahahahahahahahahahah, sic, etc…) site late yesterday or sometime last night.

Read it here.

Two things you should know about the release:

1. The document isn’t a business plan. It’s a cabinet submission and background paper.

2. It’s almost completely redacted. Much white out went into preparing this for disclosure (hahahahahahahahahahah, sic, etc…) for release.

Question: Is there anything this government does with a spec of honesty?

http://therealstory.ca/

[NAB]

Provinces looking to alcohol sales to help budget shortfalls

Cash-strapped provincial governments are banking on Canadians’ thirst. Their long-term fiscal well being depends on it.

Alcohol sales by Crown corporations pour billions into provincial coffers. Now those corporations are expanding, courting expensive tastes through glossy brochures and displays in the hopes of boosting badly needed revenue.

New numbers from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario suggest Ontarian tipplers are happy to oblige: They’re drinking more. But more importantly, what they’re drinking is more expensive.

If all goes according to plan, the LCBO will need to sustain or boost that growth over the next few years to help balance the province’s budget by 2017-18.

In British Columbia, meanwhile, sales income has fallen – a trend the province hopes to reverse as it counts on billions in revenue from the Liquor Distribution Branch over the next few years.

Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan are projecting increases in alcohol sales revenue next year. In Prince Edward Island, where liquor sales dropped slightly in 2010-11, the government is considering opening more privately run liquor stores to maximize tourist-season revenue.

Ontario’s Crown corporation raked in a net $4.7-billion in alcohol sales in 2011-12, 4.9 per cent more than the year before. That translates to a $1.6-billion dividend going into government coffers.

As part of Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s budget, the LCBO needs to make an extra $100-million in sales annually starting next year. That puts a lot of pressure on the province’s drinkers and those charged with sating their thirst. The LCBO opened 13 new stores last year, and renovated two. Next year, the corporation plans to open or relocate 35 outlets – its largest expansion ever.

“The government’s targets … are ambitious,” said LCBO spokeswoman Julie Rosenberg. “However, LCBO has a strong track record of contributing record-breaking dividends, even during difficult economic times.”

Buyers are getting pickier about what they drink. The LCBO’s growth in revenue is driven by the increasing popularity of premium booze, from high-end wine to craft beer; sales of the latter – beloved brew of hipsters and pub-goers – grew nearly 45 per cent.

“Consumers are not necessarily buying more,” Ms. Rosenberg noted, “they are buying better.”

That shift to premium products is good news for the liquor store, but not so much for restaurants, says Brandy Giannetta, government relations manager for Ontario’s Restaurant, Hotel and Motel association: When patrons spend more money on fewer drinks, it lowers profit margins, she said.

Common wisdom surmises that alcohol is counter-cyclical: Sales go up when the economy tanks. But it isn’t that simple. Across Canada, alcohol sales have gone up every year since 2007 – but the pace of growth has shrunk each year, according to Statistics Canada.

In B.C., the Liquor Distribution Branch fell short of its expectations in 2010-11, making 8.6 per cent below what it had hoped for in net income, after several years of steady growth. Beer was especially hard hit, pulling in 5.8 per cent less than the year before. The province hopes to bring in $2.6-billion in net income from liquor sales by 2015.

“Beverage alcohol is a discretionary consumer product and sales are affected by economic conditions,” states the Liquor Distribution Branch of B.C. in its most recent fiscal report, released in March. “Although the weak global economy has depressed sales over the past two years, there have been modest gains in recent months and we expect this trend to continue.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le2443137/

[jody]

BC government fine selling booze and cigarettes, gambling – Ok, then why not cocaine and weed, good profit that can all go to the good of the taxpayer??

Maybe the government should get into the fast food business – lots of volume business and I bet BC Mcburger would taste fantastic.

Can’t wait until we finally get the government we deserve that can fix everyone’s problems by throwing a little money at it made through the monopoly of all business that have huge profits

[steven lloyd]

Yes, it is a union website so you might as well not read if your opinion is already predetermined:

A new website, DontDropPublicLiquor.ca, explains the merits of the LDB system that has served British Columbians for decades. It also explains proposals to increase LDB revenues to help pay for public services.

"It makes no sense to sell-off this important, revenue generating, public asset," says BCGEU president Darryl Walker. "In the last five years, the liquor distribution and retail system contributed $4.3 billion to help pay for public services such as health care, education and highways. Next year alone, it will generate more than $900 million for public services."

The government has presented no business case for the sell-off of the LDB. There was no public consultation on the privatization of the LDB and none is planned.

"The mix of rural agency stores, privately operated neighbourhood stores and government liquor stores with consistent province-wide prices, all supported by central distribution, works well for consumers," says Walker. "The LDB system should not be fractured."

In his review of government operations in Ontario, Don Drummond, former Chief Economist with the TD Bank, rejected the sell-off of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Instead, he called for the opening of additional public liquor stores and the full utilization of the LCBO's purchasing power to improve profits and create additional revenue. The BCGEU is calling on the provincial government to take the same approach in B.C.

Also opposing the privatization of the LDB are private liquor store owners and some small brewers who say the sell-off will lead to higher prices for consumers.

[Urbane]

Steven, please clarify something for me. The other day on Bill Good's show Vaughn Palmer mentioned that selling off the LDB won't cut revenues to government. Note in excerpt you posted:

In the last five years, the liquor distribution and retail system contributed $4.3 billion to help pay . . .

Those two (the LDB and the retail system) are often linked together but are you suggesting that the government has said it will be selling off the retail system as well? Unless Vaughn Palmer is wrong (I doubt it) or unless I misunderstood him (possible) the revenue to government comes from the retail system and not from the distribution system. Thoughts?

[Captain Awesome]

"It makes no sense to sell-off this important, revenue generating, public asset," says BCGEU president Darryl Walker. "In the last five years, the liquor distribution and retail system contributed $4.3 billion to help pay for public services such as health care, education and highways. Next year alone, it will generate more than $900 million for public services."

I'd like to know how distribution part of LDB is generating revenue. I assume we're talking RFPing warehousing and transportation parts of LDB. I know retail side is making money - no doubt about it.

[Captain Awesome]

Those two (the LDB and the retail system) are often linked together but are you suggesting that the government has said it will be selling off the retail system as well?

I believe (and it's only my opinion), they were linked together to present them both as money-generating entities while in fact only one of them makes money, the other one is simply infrastructure. So, in a crafty and very carefully worded way, they lumped them together to create an illusion that the asset in fact is making money - while it is the retail operation is making money.

[steven lloyd]

Perhaps Captain

http://dontdroppublicliquor.ca/