On January 31st 2014 John Yap MLA and his team released their lengthy list of recommendations based on the liquor review last autumn. Until now we had heard a few tidbits of information about farmers markets (#31)and supermarkets (#20) however, the full review makes 73 points which seem to cover almost every aspect of alcohol in the lives of British Columbians. CAMRA BC was honoured to take part in this process and we are very happy that Mr. Yap has listened to the people of BC, recognizing that the world has changed massively while provincial legislation has not kept pace.
It is important to remember that the law has not yet changed, despite what you may have heard; none of these suggestions have been made law or policy yet. The report now passes to Suzanne Anton MLA, the Attorney General and Justice Minister who will consider the legality and wider implications of these recommendations and if she feels these changes are appropriate it is this ministry who will bring the changes to cabinet to decide if, how and when they should be implemented.
Many of the items CAMRA petitioned for have been included such as growler fill stations in liquor stores (#68), the elimination of segregated “beer prisons” at events (#51), happy hours (#16), recognition of homebrew (#50) and SOL (Special Occasion Licence) reform (#43) but it is also gratifying to see plans to abolish some of the bizarre rules that have plagued BC for years such as being unable to move your own drink from one part of a room to another (#63) or for any liquor establishment to provide samples (#59).
I strongly suggest that you download a copy of the recommendations. It’s a surprisingly easy read for a comprehensive government report, have a look and form your own opinions. Many of you (over 76,000) took a few moments to go to the website and 3,587 of you wrote letters and emails during the review, thank you all for getting involved but we aren’t finished yet!
My thanks to Mr Yap and his team for listening, considering what they learned and putting together a thoughtful list of sensible and reasonable ways to move BC’s liquor laws into the 21st Century.
We need to keep this on the legislative agenda so I plan to keep campaigning by emailing and tweeting the Justice Minister @suzanneanton and #bcliquor with the numbers of the recommendations that I feel are most important. If you do please include me @mr_adam @camra_yvr with your picks so I know what you care about and we can continue the fight!
Adam Chatburn,
President, CAMRA BC – Vancouver Branch
http://www2.gov.bc.ca/local/haveyoursay/Docs/liquor_policy_review_report.pdf
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