On Friday, Liberal leader Kevin Vickers made a brief stop in Sackville to visit the Bagtown Brewery along with local Memramcook-Tantramar candidate Maxime Bourgeois.
The point of the visit was to throw some support behind the small craft alcohol industry in New Brunswick.
There are four craft alcohol producers in Memramcook-Tantramar: Scow Cider in Memramcook, Bagtown Brewing in Sackville, Blue Roof Distilleries in Malden, and Winegarden Estates in Baie Verte.
Recently the New Brunswick Craft Alcohol Producers Association has highlighted issues with changes at NB Liquor that they say will hurt small producers.
The association says that “mandatory centralized warehousing in non-refrigerated warehouses and listing quotas,” make it harder for small producers to get their product into NB Liquor stores.
Anthony Madelena of Bagtown Brewing says he’d like to have Bagtown beers available at the Sackville liquor store if he could.
“It’s so difficult for someone like me, or other breweries… Even say 3Flip up in Fredericton, to get a substantial amount of their product out to a liquor store is a big ask. With the new changes that they’re making and kind of having a centralized distribution system, it’s not feasible for me to ever really consider putting products in the liquor store, as much as we would like to be front and centre on the shelf here in Sackville. Having it here in our own shop is way easier.”
Currently a one-year pilot program has allowed Madelena to open his own small retail shop, the Bagtown Boozy Market, where he can sell other craft products from New Brunswick.
The Liberal leader was light on details of what changes a Liberal government might pursue, but mentioned transitioning from a “red light bureaucracy” to a “green light bureaucracy.”
Local candidate Maxime Bourgeois said he wants to help producers get their products on NB Liquor shelves, and also to promote their products outside of New Brunswick.
“If you are flying in Halifax, you walk out of the airplane and there’s a beautiful space for wineries in the Halifax airport. They’re promoting their product. And I think New Brunswick should do the same thing for our local breweries and distilleries.”
Anthony Madelena says he likes the idea proposed by the craft producers association of a formal working group of government, NB Liquor and local producers.
“I think that’s a great idea. I think that’s a good way to start, just so that there’s easier ways to communicate back and forth. Then we can get whatever needs to be done, from legislation to working with ANBL, and getting them to loosen up their hold that they have on a small producers.”
CHMA asked other local candidates to weigh in on the issue.
Green candidate Megan Mitton says the concerns of craft alcohol producers tie in with her position on local procurement in general.
“The way that it is set up shouldn’t favour multinational corporations from away. We should really be prioritizing the industries in New Brunswick. And if you think of what that means, that also means not only jobs and lower emissions, because we don’t have to transport the goods as far, but it also means that because we’re supporting local, more dollars are going to circulate in the local economy. And ultimately, that’s what we need. We need to rely less on importing things and, and figure out how we can produce and support the producers that exist in our community.”
Jefferson George Wright says he supports local, small businesses, though he promotes temperance overall. Ultimately, he says NB Liquor should not be a crown corporation at all.
“You know, pie in the sky, but what I would want to do with NB Liquor is get it the hell out of it government. I don’t understand why profits from something that hurts, like catastrophically destroys families is being used by the government. But like the government’s in the vice game, and now they’re in the marijuana game, and they’re not doing a very good job of that. But I think supporting small breweries and allowing them to have a platform within their own province should be paramount to refrigeration levels, if that’s the real reason why they’re not being so much invited. And I think small breweries, also, hold in much greater respect the idea of making sure that everyone is being as responsible a drinker as they can.”
PC candidate Carole Duguay said via email that a PC government would want to help businesses compete more effectively, and that in September, the government is due to review a five-year local food and beverage strategy.
People’s Alliance candidate Heather Collins did not respond to our enquiry.
