In their usual Friday announcement burial slot the BC Liberals announced a climb down on the Minimum Pricing of beer – but before we start celebrating there’s a catch (isn’t there always).
The Minimum price is now 20¢/oz but only if you buy in bulk. That’s right, if you buy a serving of more than 50oz, (i.e. a pitcher) it’s 5¢/oz less dangerous to your health.
This is a baby step towards a more reasonable minimum price 
but it’s baffling that after all their talk about setting a minimum price for your own good they then decide to complicate matters even further. CAMRA BC broadly welcomes the change and thanks the government for listening (despite all other appearances to the contrary) – as they say in the release they are “open to revisiting prices if they did not match consumers’ expectations.” Well judging by the backlash in the media and the avalanche of letters and emails you sent they didn’t match your expectations and I’m not sure they have done yet.
I think this really shows that they don’t understand the concept of minimum pricing, it’s meant to be a minimum – not a range of minima!
This change could even be seen to encourage over-drinking as the working drinkers of BC seek to get their moneys worth and order more for less – hardly in tune with their position of “maintain(ing) a good balance between the price options British Columbians expect while still protecting health and public safety.“
I can’t call this an all-out victory – but I will call it a partial win and the people responsible for that win are those of you who took 5 minutes to email these liquor tzars and their MLAs expressing their concerns. Well done and thank you all for your support! Now let’s hit them again, keep the pressure on until they realize that their own figure of 20¢/oz should be rolled out to all serving sizes of beer. Your letters ARE making a difference.
I also find it interesting that they have finally made mention of serving sizes:
Pubs and restaurants serve draught beer and cider in a variety of sizes – generally, 9 oz., 16 oz. or 20 oz. glasses, or by the pitcher (approximately 60 oz.). If unsure, British Columbians are encouraged to ask establishments what their serving sizes are, so they can be sure of the per-ounce price they are paying and be better aware of the amount of alcohol they are consuming.
Looks like we’re getting our message across, the rights of the consumer are now at least a consideration. They are even encouraging you to ask the volume size, which you should always do, if everyone asked then we’d start seeing a lot more #FUSS compliance!
Again we call on Suzanne Anton and John Yap to please meet with us so that we can present the consumer’s view point, all we want is a sit-down so we can work together not just battling in the media. If only they had talked to us about this change before the announcement.
As a craft drinker I don’t order pitchers very often, do you? Lots of the place I like to go don’t even offer pitchers. To me this looks a bit like the BC Liberals have realized that the original announcement would affect their heartland supporters who swill macro-beer and the big brewing corporations who make it.
CAMRA BC will keep on campaigning, this little win just motivates us a little more. Please join us keeping the pressure on and maybe ask your local craft pub to start doing pitchers!
What do you think of this change?
Adam Chatburn
President, CAMRA BC – Vancouver Branch
UPDATE:
http://www.fairchildtv.com/news.php?n=a6424579bdf800415424996ec6d18dac
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-lowers-happy-hour-prices-for-pitchers-of-beer-1.1932166
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