NABCA Legal Symposium Virginia, March

JurisdictionRetailOn-Premise AlbertaNoYes BCYesNo ManitobaNoYes OntarioYesYes QuebecYesNo SaskatchewanYesYes Maritimes(4)YesYes 2

JurisdictionBeerWine Spirits BCYesYesYes OntarioYesYesYes QuebecYesNoNo SaskatchewanYesYesYes Maritimes (4)YesYesYes 3

Typically, established as a regulation under provincial liquor license act and tied to liquor sales license for bar or restaurant. 4

62. (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations, 4. prescribing conditions that attach to licences and permits; 12. prescribing or prohibiting methods and practices in connection with the serving of liquor; 5

20. (1) The holder of a licence to sell liquor shall not engage in or permit practices that may tend to encourage patrons’ immoderate consumption of liquor. 6

(3) Without restricting the generality of subsection (1), the licence holder shall not offer for sale or supply a serving of liquor for less than a total purchase price of two dollars, including retail sales tax, goods and services tax and any other applicable taxes. 7

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), a serving of liquor is prescribed, by volume and type, as follows: ml (12 oz.) of beer, cider or cooler ml (1 oz.) of spirits ml (5 oz.) of wine ml (3oz.) of fortified wine. 8

Typically, retail minimum price policies are internal pricing policies of provincial liquor boards; Exception being Quebec’s beer minimum retail price regulation. 9

Sample definition: “retail price(s) established by liquor board for each beverage alcohol category, below which such products may not be offered for sale, so as to minimize the potential for misuse through over consumption”. 10

114. The board (RACJ) may, in plenary session, make regulations (13.1) so as not to encourage the irresponsible consumption thereof, determining the minimum retail price of beer, which may vary according to the category of permit or apply only to certain of such categories; 11

18. A grocery permit holder may not sell beer at a price lower than $ a litre for beer containing less than 4.1% alcohol per volume, $ a litre for beer containing at least 4.1% and not more than 4.9% alcohol per volume, $ a litre for beer containing more than 4.9% but not more than 6.2% alcohol per volume and $ a litre for beer containing more than 6.2% alcohol per volume. Those minimum prices shall be indexed…. 12

Studies at least purporting linkage between “price” and (over) consumption 13

 Minimum wholesale or purchase price  Minimum mark-up  High Taxation Vs.  Minimum retail prices 14

 Effective anti-dumping mechanism  Mitigation of some effects of price wars  Provincial revenue stability 15

GATT Panel concluded that it might be desirable and indeed necessary for social policy reasons to ensure that [beer] not be sold to the public at low prices but, that such measures must be non-discriminatory and must not be fixed in relation to domestic prices. 16

Aggressive price promotions, including:  $0.50 “shooter”;  5¢ draught and/or;  $0.99 beer nights Violence in or around licensed premises 17

Toward a Culture of Moderation 26. “Adopt minimum retail social reference prices for alcohol and index these prices, at least annually, to the CPI.” 18

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