Murphy’s Logic: Maritimes should create a single liquor corporation

Steve Murphy talks about how provinces can work together on internal trade.

For all the grief it’s caused and the economic threat it represents, the United States’ new hostility toward Canada has had one positive effect: it’s made us look thoughtfully inward for solutions.

One area where there seems to have been significant progress is internal trade. The provinces are finally moving toward making good on a promise made at the time of Confederation: unfettered trade with one another. Until recently, it’s often been easier to deal with foreign countries than with our fellow Canadians.

The removal of trade barriers brings with it the opportunity for provinces to work more closely together to eliminate costly duplication of regulations and services. Nowhere in the country is there a better case for doing that than among our three small Maritime provinces, and there’s no better place to start than with our liquor monopolies.

We should create a single regional corporation to handle beverage alcohol and cannabis wholesaling, with particular emphasis on our local products. A single, larger liquor corporation would also likely get better prices when buying nationally and internationally. We might even consider throwing in with Quebec or Ontario to have them buy some products on our behalf.

This is also the right time for the governments to unify liquor regulations and licensing across the Maritimes provinces, ideally allowing for expanded sales of certain products in non-government-owned stores and even some licensed establishments, as is the case in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

This is not about promoting alcohol and cannabis use, it’s about embracing the common sense and savings found in working together on things we’ve all been doing differently.