Welcome, Wine Festival Lovers, to Price-Gouging BC

Pizza night, and I’m looking for a cheerful Italian red that won’t be done in by the tomato sauce. The provincial government liquor monopoly has just the thing -- a Negroamaro from Luccarelli for $9. Perfect.

Well, not so fast. Maybe I should pay another couple of bucks and get a more interesting wine. What about the Primitivo from the same producer for $11?

OK, time to stop kidding. I’ve been checking the wrong government monopoly. It’s Ontario where the Negroamaro is $9. It costs $16.20 in B.C.

The $11 Primitivo?

It’s $17.35 in B.C.

We’re being gouged.

But how can that be when the B.C. monopoly has been told emphatically by the NDP government that its goal is to make life more affordable for British Columbians?

That directive was made last August by Attorney-General David Eby in his instructions to Blain Lawson, the general manager of the Liquor Distribution Branch.

“Our first commitment is to make life more affordable,” he wrote. “We expect all public service organizations… to be conscious of every decision on the daily cost of living of families and businesses.”

Well, Mr. Eby, as far as Mr. Lawson is concerned, that’s just words; for it’s not the first time an attorney-general has been ignored. Consider a January 2015 press release from then-attorney general Susan Anton who told B.C. consumers it was not the goal of the Liberal government to raise the price of beverage alcohol.

“Our wholesale pricing model is not intended to increase government revenue or retail price,” she said. “Rather, the model is designed to generate approximately the same amount of government revenue from each product category as we receive today.”

Immediately thereafter, prices began their dramatic increase. Wholesale prices remained constant. But retail margins blasted skyward. Indeed, in his annual financial statement Mr. Lawson reported that the monopoly’s 2015/16 net revenue target of $880,600,000 had been exceeded by more than $150,000,000.

Where did it all come from? You and me.

U.S. shoppers crossing the border this week to take in the popular Vancouver International Wine Festival at the convention centre will experience the netherworld of B.C. prices when they browse the on-site government liquor store. As with all visitors, sticker prices will leave them incredulous.

But enough of this pizza plonk. Let’s splurge. How about a decent French white, say Château de Sancerre, priced at $34.60 in B.C government stores.

It’s $25.95 in Ontario.

A difference of almost $9? Surely that’s a pricing error. No, at $24.55 it’s even cheaper at the Quebec monopoly, la Société des alcools du Québec or SAQ.

Spanish wines are featured this week at the wine festival, so let’s check out a nice Spanish red, maybe the Borsao Tres Picos. The B.C. price is $28.25.

It’s $19.95 in Ontario. It’s $20 in Quebec.

Of course, price comparisons are not something the B.C. monopoly invites. Years ago Mr. Lawson killed the branch’s monthly published price list, so there’s no looking back. During his tenure the branch introduced the notion of LDB “exclusives” -- wines and spirits which the LDB refuses to sell at wholesale to independent liquor stores. Thus no price comparison there, either.

The difference between B.C. and the two eastern provinces is that both the Ontario and Quebec monopolies operate as public services. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is overseen by an independent board of directors, representative of the citizens of the province, not of the booze industry or the government. Similarly, the SAQ is overseen by members of a conseil d’administration appointed by the province.

But the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch is the fiefdom of one man, a person with no prior public service experience, named general manager by the Liberal government in March 2013. Mr. Lawson was formerly general manager of an appliance wholesaler, a position he left abruptly in 2011.

Ontario’s population is almost three times that of British Columbia, but the net revenue of the LCBO is less than double that of B.C.’s LDB ($1.935 billion in fiscal 2015/16 compared to $1.031 billion in B.C.).

Now we know the reason why.

(Prices shown include taxes plus bottle deposits, 20 cents in Ontario, 10 cents in B.C., no deposit in Quebec.)

Read more: Food, BC Politics