The Bar Towel

JerCraigs wrote:That said - how come Quebec gets away with allowing convenience stores to carry Quebec products? Did that pre-date NAFTA?

Quebec is grandfathered in relation to wine in "grocery stores" by the Canada-US FTA (the provision right after private wine stores in Ontario and BC) - paragraph 3 of Article 804:

Nothing in this Agreement shall prohibit the Province of Quebec from requiring that any wine sold in grocery stores in Quebec be bottled in Quebec, provided that alternative outlets are provided in Quebec for the sale of wine of the United States of America, whether or not such wine is bottled in Quebec.

Imported and out-of-province beers have been sold at depaneurs for years in Quebec. It was part of the brokered deal after the FTA challenge, same as when the BeerStore had to change policies. Any brewery selling in corner stores, however, must maintain an office in the province, which not a lot can be bothered with.

It's all about equality of access, which is why an OCB store would never work. Any retail has to comply with NAFTA regulations allowing for equal apparent access, even if things like user fees (TBS) and product panels (LCBO) make the access largely theoretical.

Steve, are these nightmarish NAFTA provisions particular to alcohol only? How, for example, does Roots manage to operate stores which sell only its branded products? How does Roots withstand a NAFTA challenge in which a competing brand could argue it has no access to Roots stores?

On the matter of apparent equal access, nothing would prevent an OCB retail operation offering such access. The likelihood of access uptake is unknown. You might see the micro divisions of the macro brewers seeking access for Granville Island and Creemore, but those products are already widely available now in the relevant markets.

zane9 wrote:Steve, are these nightmarish NAFTA provisions particular to alcohol only? How, for example, does Roots manage to operate stores which sell only its branded products? How does Roots withstand a NAFTA challenge in which a competing brand could argue it has no access to Roots stores?

On the matter of apparent equal access, nothing would prevent an OCB retail operation offering such access. The likelihood of access uptake is unknown. You might see the micro divisions of the macro brewers seeking access for Granville Island and Creemore, but those products are already widely available now in the relevant markets.

Roots isn't part of a government mandated clothing duopoly that presents a potential barrier to free trade.

Google NAFTA Chapter 11 for some interesting cases on how this has worked out. I thought it was mostly Canada getting sued (and mostly by environmentally sketchy US businesses) but apparently Canadian companies have also sued the US.

Belgian wrote:

saints_gambit wrote:Here's my take on it. As per usual, it's approximately forty three times longer than it needs to be. Fortunately for you, you don't need to read it since there's audio.

http://saintjohnswort.ca/2011/06/14/the-beer-boutique/

Who writes that thing anyway???

Was in the "Boutique" last night. Nice to look at but I wouldn't wanna marry it. As everyone else has mentioned, it looks like the same old tired BS stock layed out in a new way.

I did see some IPA from Sasketchewan in there (forget the name) with a train on the box and saying it carried "a heavy haul of hops".

Saw nothing that would make me stop going to the LCBO for my craft beer.

IPA_Lover wrote:Was in the "Boutique" last night. Nice to look at but I wouldn't wanna marry it. As everyone else has mentioned, it looks like the same old tired BS stock layed out in a new way.

I did see some IPA from Sasketchewan in there (forget the name) with a train on the box and saying it carried "a heavy haul of hops".

Saw nothing that would make me stop going to the LCBO for my craft beer.

That would be the Paddock Wood, good stuff as long as its fresh.

Regarding the NAFTA stuff, there's some more info and commentary in this thread: http://www.bartowel.com/board/viewtopic ... 00eab75efb

I'm sure just about anything can be done if the right people would put their minds to it. Whether there's the political will is another story....