One of the big issues that came up in the legislature this past week that has impacted the Northwest region directly concerns the issue of private liquor stores.
The announcement was made by the province that 40 liquor stores would be converted through an RFP process to private liquor stores. Another 12 private liquor stores would be added in under-served communities.
Battleford is one of the locations impacted along with Wilkie, Unity, St. Walburg and others. But the proposals did not sit well with the opposition NDP.
Opposition critic Cathy Sproule opened questioning on the topic in question period Wednesday to Crown Investments Minister Don McMorris, as recorded in Hansard:
Ms. Sproule: — Mr. Speaker, the Sask Party inherited a fortune and they raked in record revenues, but they’ve blown through all that money, racked up a mountain of deb, and now they’re putting up a bunch of for sale signs. This government’s own survey shows that Saskatchewan people want our current hybrid liquor system fixed, but we don’t want to sell over half of our public liquor stores. And that’s what this government is doing because they’re broke.
The minister admits that 99 per cent of liquor prices won’t change, even though that’s one of the things that Saskatchewan people want to see. So to the minister: why not just fix our current hybrid system and deliver better prices for Saskatchewan people?
The Speaker: — I recognize the Minister for Crown Investments and SLGA [Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority].
Hon. Mr. McMorris: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s a privilege to finally stand in this House and answer a question again. What I want to say is that starting about a year ago, in November, we started a consultation process that saw 6,600 people across the province answer the survey. Over 3,000 people have written submissions into the consultation process. That ended in January, Mr. Speaker.
Today, I was very pleased to announce a new retail system — if we are so chosen to be government after the next provincial election — that the people and consumers are asking for in this province. They’re asking for more choice. They’re asking for convenience and they’re asking for price competitiveness, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, that’s what this system will do moving forward. We’ve seen it with the introduction of four private stores. Consumers are marching with their feet to those stores because of convenience, because of selectio, and also because of competitiveness. That’s why we’re expanding the private system with 12 new stores and also conversion of 40 existing stores, Mr. Speaker, to follow what the general public are asking for, Mr. Speaker. They want to go back to the ’90s, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the people of Saskatchewan have moved way past that.
The Speaker: — I recognize the member for Saskatoon Nutana.
Ms. Sproule: — This minister and this party don’t want to fix anything. Their answer to everything is privatize, privatize, privatize. We could easily improve public stores to deal with more choice, more convenience, more competitive pricing. We can improve what we have. We can improve selection. We can improve more fridges. We can have growler stations and promote local craft brewers. We could put liquor kiosks in grocery stores. And we don’t need for sale . . .
[Interjections]
The Speaker: — I recognize the member for Saskatoon Nutana.
Ms. Sproule: — We know we don’t need for sale signs to do any of the things that the minister’s talking about. So again to the minister: why won’t you take meaningful steps to actually fix our current hybrid system? That’s what people want.
The Speaker: —I recognize the Minister for Crown Investments.
Hon. Mr. McMorris: — Mr. Speaker, as I said, the consultation is very clear around choice and convenience and competitive pricing, as well as levelling the playing fields, Mr. Speaker, so that all retailers across the province have the same opportunity buying alcohol at the same price. Whether it’s franchisees, Mr. Speaker — 190 — some had beer sales; some didn’t. We’re levelling the playing field so franchisees, off-sales, private stores, government stores will all be operating on the same level, Mr. Speaker, adding competitiveness and competitive pricing to the piece. That’s what people are asking for; that’s what we’re doing, Mr. Speaker.
And she says why don’t we do certain other things? And that certainly could have been done. It could have been done when they were in government. They failed to do it. They say that we shouldn’t be converting any stores. Under the NDP, Mr. Speaker, they converted stores in Estevan and Radville, Mr. Speaker. Under their government, they did the same thing that we are doing, but for some reason because we’re going a little bit further, Mr. Speaker, it’s not okay. Mr. Speaker, because I believe the general public want us to go further, Mr. Speaker, and I think we’ll find out the NDP are still living in the ’90s.
The Speaker: — I recognize the member for Saskatoon Nutana.
Ms. Sproule: — Mr. Speaker, we already have a lot of private sector involvement in liquor retailing. We have 643 private outlets compared to 75 public stores. But if the Sask. Party has their way, 40 public stores will be sold off and that won’t mean better prices for Saskatchewan people. But do you know what it will mean? It will mean less money to fix roads, to put resources in our kids’ classrooms, to reduce ER [emergency room] waits and pay for more specialists. We’ll have less money for that because the profits, the profits from these stores will be flowing to private corporations, many from out of province. Why do you think they want to buy them, Mr. Speaker? So to the minister: setting aside his ideological desire to privatize everything, how can you justify that?
The Speaker: — I recognize the Minister of Crown Investments.
Hon. Mr. McMorris: — Mr. Speaker, one other thing that was very clear through the consultation process, not only the choice of convenience and the competitive pricing, was also the fact that the government would remain revenue neutral through the new system. That is being accomplished. No matter what they say or what they tweet, Mr. Speaker, I would ask them to follow through with the backgrounder, Mr. Speaker, as well as the information that was provided in the consultation process, Mr. Speaker, because what they’re saying, what they’re saying . . .
The Speaker: — The member asked the question. She should perhaps listen to the response, including the two members at the far end who have been talking virtually the whole time. I recognize the minister.
Hon. Mr. McMorris: — Mr.Speaker, this system moving forward, would be revenue neutral because the revenue that government generates to fix roads, to fix hospitals, to put into education comes from the wholesale piece, Mr. Speaker, not much from the retail at all. It comes from the wholesale piece, Mr. Speaker. We still control that. We’ll still generate the revenue we need, Mr. Speaker, because on this side of the government, this side of the floor, Mr. Speaker, this government would rather put money into hospitals and rather put money into education, Mr. Speaker.
We saw what they did under NDP. They built a brand new liquor store in Riversdale, Mr. Speaker. They built a brand new liquor store in Moose Jaw. They built liquor stores all over, Mr. Speaker, while our hospitals suffered. That will not happen under this government.
The other big issue that raged on at the legislature was carbon capture at Boundary Dam. That was a main focus of debate on Tuesday and Wednesday and it was during the Wednesday question period that Premier Brad Wall, under intense questioning from opposition leader Cam Broten, released some news regarding the province’s renewable energy goals.
Hon. Mr. Wall: — With respect to the whole file, Mr. Speaker, I hope that we have the support of members opposite when early next week we will be announcing through SaskPower the objective that by 2050 we will rely 50 per cent on renewable energy for our electricity supply in the province of Saskatchewan — 50 per cent by 2050 — and a huge ramping up of solar, Mr. Speaker, of wind, and possibly geothermal. We look forward to the support, the hyperbolic support, of the member opposite when that announcement is made.
The Speaker: — I recognize the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Broten: — Mr. Speaker, this project better end up working; we have sunk $1.5 billion into it. Ratepayers in the province should expect absolutely nothing less. The catch is though, Mr. Speaker, they’re going around the world saying the economics of this project are proven when, by the Premier’s own admission, they’re not meeting the targets that internal documents say need to be met in order to have an economic case for this project.
