Earlier this week CAMRA BC President Rick Green, Vice President Maureen Blaseckie and myself went to the BC Legislature in Victoria to meet with MLAs about some of CAMRA BC’s campaigns.
We contacted a number of MLAs and five got back to us to arrange meetings:
- Jenny Kwan (Vancouver-Mount Pleasant)
- Rob Fleming (Victoria-Swan Lake)
- Maurine Karagianis (Esquimalt-Royal Roads)
- Spencer Chandra Herbert (Vancouver-West End)
- Carole James (Victoria-Beacon Hill)
We met with all of them except Mrs James who was tied up in question period but we were able to present the campaigns we had identified as priorities:
- Increased Growler Tax.
- Government Liquor Store Listings.
- Simplification of regulations for Festivals and Farmers’ Markets.
- Craft Beer to be given legal parity with wine.
- One hour extension of Transit hours on Friday and Saturday nights.
- Enforcement of serving sizes (aka the CAMRA FUSS campaign).
For more information and to see exactly what information we presented check the CAMRA Vancouver website’s advocacy section here.
We found all the MLAs really receptive, we brought 
growlers of fine BC craft beer to show them what Growlers are and how practical they are. We talked the petition that had over 1300 signatures at that time (over 1600 at the time of this post) and how CAMRA BC members are passionate about BC craft beer and that translates to tax dollars, jobs and small business growth within the province.
While we all know an election is imminent and it’s hard to know what will happen we asked to be a part of any consultations on liquor regulation reform as BC’s only alcohol consumer advocacy group.
We have some follow up meetings with MLAs and Local Councillors in the next few weeks and we’ve got high hopes that the relationships we’re building now will pay dividend post-election creating the craft beer culture in BC that we deserve.
Please contact your MLA and local Councillors about these issues, the more they hear from you the more likely they are to consider your wishes. It only takes a moment to send an email or better still write an actual letter to them – the effort you put in lets them know how much you care.
Adam Chatburn, President, CAMRA BC – Vancouver Chapter March 14th 2013
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