Manitoba's liquor regulation best in the west, finds new report

Manitoba manages liquor sales better than other western provinces, according to a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

"Manitoba's way ahead," said Greg Flanagan, author of the report called Balancing convenience with social responsibility: Liquor regulation in Manitoba.

"Manitoba is doing much better than the other western provinces both from the social cost [perspective] and the revenue-covering-the-social-cost perspective," he said.

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Flanagan, a public finance economist, saysthe amount of money Manitoba Liquor andLotteries generates from the sale of wine and spirits comes closest to paying for alcohol-relatedsocial costs like treating people with alcohol-related health problems compared to other Western provinces.

All provinces face a deficit when social costs are subtracted from the money provinces bring in from liquor sales and taxes, but Manitoba's deficit is the smallest, just-$12.86 per capita. Thenational average is-$36.75.

In Alberta, where alcohol retail is handled byprivate businesses, the province has one of the highest deficits at -$49 per capitasaidFlanagan.

"The revenues there on a comparable basis have been going down steadily," he said of Alberta.

Saskatchewan has recently moved toward more private liquor stores and Flanagan expects revenues to declinethere as well.

Public modelcheaper for customers

Thecommon argument in favour of privatizing liquor sales is that it makes booze cheaper on the consumer side, but facts do not support that, saidFlanagan.

"Prices [in Alberta] are generally higher on most products than anywhere else," he said

In Manitoba where income from alcohol sales is the highest, residents actually pay some of the lowest amounts for boozeannually in the country roughly $700 per person a year.

While there may be more outlets with longer hours in jurisdictions where all alcohol sales are private,society on the whole pays a price.

"Generally you get more outlets, more hours and so on so drinking goes up," Flanagan noted.

Flanagan added private businesses are not as wellpositioned as Crown corporations torefuse service tounderage customers or those who are already intoxicated.

"From a public health and safety perspective, there is no basis for favouring the private sale of alcohol, because the objective of private firms is to sell as much of the project as possible," he said.

Flanagan said if Manitoba considers privatization of liquor sales, it should account for all costs that may follow, like: higher rates of violent crime, unemployment and disability.

"I kind of hope that policy will be made by evidence as opposed to ideology," he said.

In the last election the Manitoba Liberals promised to privatize liquor sales but thenPC leader, now Premier, Brian Pallister said he has differentpriorities and will not be pursuing the idea.

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