MLA Scott Smith said the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) is following the best business plan when it decided to move one of its Brandon branches across the street on Victoria Ave.

Smith is technically correct (about the location) but his statement is generally inaccurate (about following the best business plan).

The reality is that the MLCC does not follow the best business plan…period. There is no reason why Manitoba still follows the archaic model of alcohol distribution when progressive provinces like Quebec and Alberta have long since abandoned government-run outlets in favor of lower-cost distributors.

The average town in Alberta with a population the size of Minnedosa has four highly profitable private retail distribution outlets. Brandon has 15 times the population and it has only 2. Scott Smith defends the right of Manitobans to purchase alcohol from government-run stores because that somehow is preferable to spending those same distribution dollars on obtaining and retaining quality pediatric doctors in the Brandon and Assiniboine RHAs.

Alberta and Quebec have abandoned the era of prohibition and have adopted a more dynamic approach to alcohol distribution. They still tax alcohol the same amount. Instead of financing the millions required to support the distribution infrastructure, including the incentives Manitoba provides its citizens to drink (you collect award miles each time you buy alcohol, compliments of Scott Smith and the Manitoba Government), why doesn’t the Manitoba Government start using some business sense?

D’Arcy Barker is a Chartered Financial Planner and Registered Employee Benefits Consultant- www.barkermoney.com

E-mail: ReduceYourTaxes@barkermoney.com