Advocacy Update: August 2016

A few weeks ago I was perusing twitter and I came across a tweet by Kennedy Stewart, MP for Burnaby South (and my MP in the house of Commons.) As one of his constituents I found his social media feed to be a bit… safe, predictable and repetitive.

So I called him on it:

Which resulted in this:

This…

and finally, this…

Well, he said the magic words – local beer? I had to pipe in with…
Much to my joy, he replied with…

I felt good leaving it there knowing I had given our organization a bit of exposure towards a decision maker. But, a few days later, I got an email from Kennedy’s assistant asking if I would be willing to meet him for a beer and a conversation about what CAMRA BC was all about. Bingo!

A week or so later, I met Kennedy and Krystal at Dageraad Brewing and got to talking about the local beer scene and the community. He was keenly interested in what he could be doing at the federal level to assist us in our efforts. I was inspired by the passion and genuineness he showed in our meeting. I came into my meeting with him with a few agenda items:

1. I got him up to speed on the F.U.S.S. campaign and the consumer issue surrounding proper serving sizes.
2. The issue of being unable to transport a decent amount of liquor from one province to the other due to varying provincial legislations
3. The new taxation on out of province craft beer in Alberta and how it will impact our local beer industry.
4. A lack of craft breweries in Burnaby (outside of Dageraad and Steamworks) and what needs to be done to change that.

I must say our conversation was very productive. Albeit it was just an initial discussion, I believe it was a great place to start. Now, to be clear, Mr. Stewart did not make any commitments or promises – but did express his keen desire to assist us in whatever capacity he can.

The first (and most extensive discussion) came when we talked about beer serving sizes.  I explained to him what the nature of our F.U.S.S. campaign and the opposition/support we faced in our endeavour. I explained the laws around serving sizes (and how they are regulated by measurement Canada and not the province.) I was also proud to inform him that his favourite brewery, Dageraad Brewing, was a great example for other industry members with marked glassware and proper advertising of their pour sizes. Mr.Stewart was very interested to hear about it and was keen to do what he could. Kennedy introduced the idea of a Private Member’s Bill that could be brought to the house and would further promote our agenda advocating for consumer rights.  Our executive team hopes to be working with Mr. Stewart’s office to try and garner public support for this action. Keep your eyes peeled, hopefully we see some action on that front shortly.

Outside of that, we had a good discussion about the “Free the Beer” motion presented recently by an MP from the Conservative Party, that would see a loosening of restrictions on transporting goods between provinces – particularly alcohol.  The assessment I had at the end of this conversation was that this is a very complex piece of legislation requiring collaboration from many levels of government. I was not holding my breath for a speedy resolution (if any) after my conversation with Kennedy though he was very strongly in agreement that this motion would be good for our country and allow consumers to freely traffic goods from one province to another.

I informed him that we would be working with CAMRA Alberta to sort out what the new taxation policies in Alberta mean for consumers in that province and what they mean for the beer community here in BC. He asked to be kept abreast of what happens with those discussions as he has a keen interest in it.

Before I finish this piece I would like to touch on something. It was brought to my attention by a member recently that I have shown partisan leanings in some of my posts. I wish to express my apologies to the membership if any of my articles came across as being heavy on the “political soapbox.” While CAMRA BC is a non-partisan group it is important for executive members to garner support from lawmakers and people in positions of power. This conversation with an MP from the New Democratic Party of Canda is a fine example of that. These are the people that shape the laws we abide by, these are the people that write reforms to liquor policy and these are the people that have the reach we need to bring about real change.

I am hoping for more productive conversations with Mr. Stewart, and perhaps other federal MPs. I am hopeful that my next conversation with him can loop in CAMRA BC president Jeremy Noonan so we can expand our reach and have even more impact.

David Perry
President
CAMRA BC – Vancouver Branch