Alberta
Alcohol sales in grocery and convenience stores would benefit Albertans
From the Fraser Institute
By Alex Whalen
Earlier this year, the Smith government confirmed that a panel of MLAs has been exploring the idea of allowing grocery and convenience stores to sell alcohol. Since then, there’s been no new developments. But despite misleading claims from some groups resisting the move, greater retail access would benefit consumers.
Alberta’s fully-private retail market for alcohol is unique within Canada. Following privatization of alcohol retail in 1993, consumers in Alberta have benefitted from greater choice and convenience in the absence of government-owned retail outlets. However, the provincial government still controls which private operators can sell alcohol, and generally prohibits the sale in convenience and grocery stores.
But expansion into grocery and convenience stores simply makes sense. Individual retailers should decide where to sell (or not sell) alcohol to cater to consumer preferences rather than have terms dictated by government. As the footprint of government has expanded in Alberta, policymakers should remember what are the core functions of government, and what’s best left to the private sector. And there’s no good reason for government to dictate which stores can sell alcohol.
Again, some groups including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives claim that Albertans pay higher prices for alcohol under privatization, yet this claim simply doesn’t add up.
First, these groups typically use average prices across Canada to support this claim. But average prices across Canada—which includes provinces with strict government controls of alcohol sales—are meaningless because the mix of products in Alberta has changed. In post-privatization Alberta, retailers and consumers come together in a market to set prices. Consumers may willingly pay more for alcohol in Alberta because they find higher quality products, more convenient locations and/or better store hours than in other provinces.
Rather, what matters are not “average prices” but minimum prices and the ability to find the product you desire at the lowest available price. One comparison of nearly 2,000 products between Alberta and British Columbia (which maintains a more government-controlled system of retail) using minimum prices estimated that 83 per cent of beer, wine and spirits were available at cheaper prices in Alberta.
Moreover, liquor store locations have also become more convenient for Albertans. In 2018 (the latest year of available data), 64 per cent of Albertans lived within a kilometre of a liquor store—by far the highest percentage of any province in Canada and much higher than the 26 per cent in Ontario, which has government-operated liquor stores. In the United States, three-quarters of Americans are served by a private liquor retailing system, and privatized states have 50 per cent more liquor stores per capita than those where government controls sales.
And Alberta’s liquor product selection has expanded from 2,200 in 1993 to more than 31,000 varieties of beer, wine and spirits today. By comparison, Ontarians have at least 6,000 fewer products available.
Finally, critics claim that privatization leads to increases in social problems that arise from alcohol consumption. However, the leading study of Alberta’s 1993 privatization found no evidence of increased social problems such as impaired driving or other alcohol-related offenses.
Alberta has led the way in promoting consumer choice in what is otherwise a strictly controlled market for alcohol in Canada. To strengthen this advantage, the Smith government should continue to remove unnecessary restrictions for the benefit of Albertans.
Author:
From Resource Now
Alberta renews call for West Coast oil pipeline amid shifting federal, geopolitical dynamics.
Just six months ago, talk of resurrecting some version of the Northern Gateway pipeline would have been unthinkable. But with the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. and Mark Carney in Canada, it’s now thinkable.
In fact, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith seems to be making Northern Gateway 2.0 a top priority and a condition for Alberta staying within the Canadian confederation and supporting Mark Carney’s vision of making Canada an Energy superpower. Thanks to Donald Trump threatening Canadian sovereignty and its economy, there has been a noticeable zeitgeist shift in Canada. There is growing support for the idea of leveraging Canada’s natural resources and diversifying export markets to make it less vulnerable to an unpredictable southern neighbour.
“I think the world has changed dramatically since Donald Trump got elected in November,” Smith said at a keynote address Wednesday at the Global Energy Show Canada in Calgary. “I think that’s changed the national conversation.” Smith said she has been encouraged by the tack Carney has taken since being elected Prime Minister, and hopes to see real action from Ottawa in the coming months to address what Smith said is serious encumbrances to Alberta’s oil sector, including Bill C-69, an oil and gas emissions cap and a West Coast tanker oil ban. “I’m going to give him some time to work with us and I’m going to be optimistic,” Smith said. Removing the West Coast moratorium on oil tankers would be the first step needed to building a new oil pipeline line from Alberta to Prince Rupert. “We cannot build a pipeline to the west coast if there is a tanker ban,” Smith said. The next step would be getting First Nations on board. “Indigenous peoples have been shut out of the energy economy for generations, and we are now putting them at the heart of it,” Smith said.
Alberta currently produces about 4.3 million barrels of oil per day. Had the Northern Gateway, Keystone XL and Energy East pipelines been built, Alberta could now be producing and exporting an additional 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. The original Northern Gateway Pipeline — killed outright by the Justin Trudeau government — would have terminated in Kitimat. Smith is now talking about a pipeline that would terminate in Prince Rupert. This may obviate some of the concerns that Kitimat posed with oil tankers negotiating Douglas Channel, and their potential impacts on the marine environment.
One of the biggest hurdles to a pipeline to Prince Rupert may be B.C. Premier David Eby. The B.C. NDP government has a history of opposing oil pipelines with tooth and nail. Asked in a fireside chat by Peter Mansbridge how she would get around the B.C. problem, Smith confidently said: “I’ll convince David Eby.”
“I’m sensitive to the issues that were raised before,” she added. One of those concerns was emissions. But the Alberta government and oil industry has struck a grand bargain with Ottawa: pipelines for emissions abatement through carbon capture and storage.
The industry and government propose multi-billion investments in CCUS. The Pathways Alliance project alone represents an investment of $10 to $20 billion. Smith noted that there is no economic value in pumping CO2 underground. It only becomes economically viable if the tradeoff is greater production and export capacity for Alberta oil. “If you couple it with a million-barrel-per-day pipeline, well that allows you $20 billion worth of revenue year after year,” she said. “All of a sudden a $20 billion cost to have to decarbonize, it looks a lot more attractive when you have a new source of revenue.” When asked about the Prince Rupert pipeline proposal, Eby has responded that there is currently no proponent, and that it is therefore a bridge to cross when there is actually a proposal. “I think what I’ve heard Premier Eby say is that there is no project and no proponent,” Smith said. “Well, that’s my job. There will be soon. “We’re working very hard on being able to get industry players to realize this time may be different.” “We’re working on getting a proponent and route.”
At a number of sessions during the conference, Mansbridge has repeatedly asked speakers about the Alberta secession movement, and whether it might scare off investment capital. Alberta has been using the threat of secession as a threat if Ottawa does not address some of the province’s long-standing grievances. Smith said she hopes Carney takes it seriously. “I hope the prime minister doesn’t want to test it,” Smith said during a scrum with reporters. “I take it seriously. I have never seen separatist sentiment be as high as it is now. “I’ve also seen it dissipate when Ottawa addresses the concerns Alberta has.” She added that, if Carney wants a true nation-building project to fast-track, she can’t think of a better one than a new West Coast pipeline. “I can’t imagine that there will be another project on the national list that will generate as much revenue, as much GDP, as many high paying jobs as a bitumen pipeline to the coast.”
Alberta
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith Discusses Moving Energy Forward at the Global Energy Show in Calgary
From Energy Now
At the energy conference in Calgary, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pressed the case for building infrastructure to move provincial products to international markets, via a transportation and energy corridor to British Columbia.
“The anchor tenant for this corridor must be a 42-inch pipeline, moving one million incremental barrels of oil to those global markets. And we can’t stop there,” she told the audience.
The premier reiterated her support for new pipelines north to Grays Bay in Nunavut, east to Churchill, Man., and potentially a new version of Energy East.
The discussion comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government are assembling a list of major projects of national interest to fast-track for approval.
Carney has also pledged to establish a major project review office that would issue decisions within two years, instead of five.
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