The NDP and their local candidates are calling for the BC Liberals to abandon a plan to privatize liquor distribution, but a local MLA said there isn't an actual plan in place.
"There's been a lot said of it. I think there's lots of confusion around it," said Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell. "The only way we will conclude the process and conclude a deal is if there's some clear benefit to the province in terms of a more efficient system, a reduced cost and an improvement to the consumer."
The Liberals announced a move towards privatizing liquor distribution when
delivering the 2012 budget in February.
The rationale to contract out the warehousing and distribution aspect of the BC Liquor Distribution Branch is to reduce the deficit, said Minister of Labour, Citizen's Services and Open Government Margaret MacDiarmid.
The liquor distribution branch falls under the Ministry of Energy and Mines, but MacDiarmid is in charge of the privatization project which came under fire last week following the release of documents showing a prominent distribution company and lobbyists connected to the Liberals met with
government officials last year.
The BC NDP posted the documents on their website after receiving them under a Freedom of Information request.
A June 21, 2011, email from then-Solicitor General Shirley Bond told Scott Lyons, vice president of Exel - the same distribution company that trucks Alberta's alcohol - the "government is not considering making any significant changes to the existing liquor
distribution system."
But Bond met with Lyons and representatives of a lobbying group Aug. 25, 2011, to hear their pitch for a "P3 partnership to build, finance and operate a world-class distribution system for the long-term benefit of government, industry and consumers."
Interview requests made to Bond's office were forwarded to MacDiarmid.
"The privatization plan that their own Liberal government recently rejected appears to be moving forward with the involvement of Liberal lobbyists, potentially tainting the entire deal," said Prince George-Mackenzie NDP candidate Sarbjit Deepak.
"Bond and Bell both need to show their constituents both here in Prince George-Valemount and Prince George-Mackenzie that there is a sound case for this privatization to proceed, or they need to speak out at the cabinet table and halt this tainted deal now," said Prince George-Valemount
candidate Sherry Ogasawara.
But MacDiarmid said privatization has come up in the past, and in detail in 2006 when each ministry was asked to find areas of savings.
"The reason we're looking at it now is because we do believe that a private proponent is going to be able to do this at a lower cost than we're currently doing it for," she said.
Under the current distribution system, alcohol is brought into the province in a private warehouse then moved to one of
two government-owned warehouses in Vancouver or Kamloops before heading to
stores.
The government opened a 60-day request for proposals on the BCBid website at the end of April. Eight submissions were made and a shortlist of three proposals is expected tomorrow.
If a proponent can successfully show they can provide at least the same level of service or better for a lower price, they will get a
10-year contract.
But that's a big if, said Bell.
"It will not result in increased costs for people, it will not result in reduced selection. If we do move forward with it, it will only be that it's good for consumers, good for taxpayers."
Bell stressed that it's only the distribution network that would be affected, not the
liquor stores.
"At the end of the day, does government have a particular and vested interest in being a trucking company? And I can't see why government has any specific expertise in trucking that doesn't exist elsewhere."
