Why is The Beer Store donating $$$ to BC political parties?

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:26 am

OK, since it's a post on my website, this is admittedly a bit of self-promotion on my part - but I'm curious to see what people have to say about this:

http://www.canadianbeernews.com/2012/02 ... eer-store/

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:32 am

I saw this when Derek posted it too...it's weird. Is it possible for TBS to cooridinate nationally? That would be the scary pessimistic view. But then again, as has been mused before, maybe it's just a tax thing.

Maybe Molson/Labatt et al had a lot to donate, and donated partially under their own names and partially under TBS.

Did they donate money in other provinces?

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:07 am

Let's go fuck up the selection in a province that has some of the best retail variety in the country.

* I realize the donations are likely intended to maintain The Big Three's favourable position in BC Liquor Stores, but the cynic in me worries that they have grander designs *

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:59 am

It'd be great to see that in the mainstream media. It's bad enough that your TBS purchases support foreign corporations and shitty superbowl commercials... now your supporting political parties in another province?

Ontario needs to shut down that monopoly. TBS could continue to operate as a distribution system for the big companies, but don't force everyone to shop there.

Some large companies do A LOT of good... but I just can't tolerate corporatism.

I considered starting a new topic... probably should have, instead of having it buried in another thread.

The_Jester · Post by **The_Jester** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:06 pm

Derek wrote:....Ontario needs to shut down that monopoly....

I think we're getting closer. (I didn't say close.) It's certainly part of the broader conversation, now. You may not be able to make people care about good beer, but you can make them care about monopolies and shady political donations. And foreigners, of course.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:41 pm

The online poll that the globe did was telling...people overwhelmingly thought that TBS just isn't a good model. And I think the province knows it too...

While we (the government, I mean) might not be able to shut down a private corporation, we could introduce competition.

Hell, NOT EVEN from a "craft" point of view: if variety store were able to sell tall boys of Laker and Canadian for cheaps, it would eat into their competition.

We can't take a monopoly like this "down", but we can introduce new rules to the market.

FWIW, I don't like the "bare bones" model of TBS described in the Globe. I like going into depanneurs and shops the the U.S. where folks are knoweldgable, and I can pick up and look at the bottles and make decisions that way. Doesn't need to be anything fancy, but the line-up and get your beer from the conveyer belt is pretty inhuman.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:49 pm

JeffPorter wrote:Did they donate money in other provinces?

I found a similar online database to check political donations in Alberta, and didn't find anything from The Beer Store. Haven't checked any other provinces yet.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:04 pm

GregClow wrote:
JeffPorter wrote:Did they donate money in other provinces?
I found a similar online database to check political donations in Alberta, and didn't find anything from The Beer Store. Haven't checked any other provinces yet.

It might make a little more sense, say if they donated, to, like, the Conservative in Alberta as well - then we might be able to say just doing it for the taxes. But if it's just one province, and that one province is B.C. - well, that's weird and scary...

(Man, I've been posting a lot today...I'm going to leave you guys alone for a bit...)

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:19 pm

GregClow wrote:
JeffPorter wrote:Did they donate money in other provinces?
I found a similar online database to check political donations in Alberta, and didn't find anything from The Beer Store. Haven't checked any other provinces yet.

You might want to look for "Brewers' Distributor Ltd" in Western Canada

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:24 pm

BC government is looking at privatizing/selling their warehouse distribution...

http://www.vancouversun.com/looks+raise ... story.html

At $706 million, I don't think http://bccraftbeer.com/ will be looking at this purchase.

Bueller... Bueller... BudMiller?

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:18 am

Well, that answers a few questions...

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 9:10 am

A recent poster on that Sun article said that the BC Liquor store make an annual profit of 900 million dollars??? If that's true, then selling it off for 700 million seems rather foolish, to put it mildly.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 9:38 am

JeffPorter wrote:A recent poster on that Sun article said that the BC Liquor store make an annual profit of 900 million dollars??? If that's true, then selling it off for 700 million seems rather foolish, to put it mildly.

Indeed.

jcc · Post by **jcc** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:02 am

JeffPorter wrote:A recent poster on that Sun article said that the BC Liquor store make an annual profit of 900 million dollars??? If that's true, then selling it off for 700 million seems rather foolish, to put it mildly.

I'm pretty sure those number include sales from the BC Liquor Stores (which aren't being sold yet). There is no way distribution to retailers is going to generate 900 million in revenue, so the 700 million may be a reasonable number.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:13 am

Right. That makes sense. They're not privatizing the sales, per se, but just the warehousing and distribution.

Still. It's pretty clear why TBS was so interested in B.C. politics...