Supreme Court to hear appeal for border-beer case

The Supreme Court of Canada will take a look at what the Fathers of Confederation really meant by a constitutional clause about free trade among provinces in a case that started over some cases of beer and three bottles of liquor.

The court agreed Thursday to hear a Crown appeal of a New Brunswick ruling overturning a ban on bringing alcohol across provincial boundaries.

As usual, there were no written reasons provided, though the court took the uncommon step of awarding costs to the defendant for the submissions.

The case now stands a chance of altering over a century’s worth of provincial supply management systems, Crown monopolies on alcohol and other non-tariff barriers erected within the federation, says defence lawyer Arnold Schwisberg.

“I’ve said to the politicians, please don’t let us down, be prepared to have some kind of transitional plan in place should limitations on the cross border movement of alcohol and supply management systems change in the new era,” said Schwisberg.

The case sprang to prominence last year when a provincial court judge threw out all charges against retiree Gerard Comeau after he was ticketed for importing 14 cases of beer and three bottles of liquor from a Quebec border town.

In an 88-page decision, Judge Ronald LeBlanc said the original framers of the Constitution never intended that laws should blatantly block the free flow of goods within their new country.

The New Brunswick Liquor Control Act prohibits anyone in the province from having more than 12 pints of beer not purchased through a liquor store in the province, a prohibition the judge called unconstitutional.

The New Brunswick Court of Appeal declined to hear the Crown’s appeal.

Comeau, who was fined $292.50 in 2012, has the support of the Canadian Constitution Foundation as his fight moves to the country’s highest court.

Schwisberg said he’s very confident the historical evidence expert witnesses gave at trial has the potential to overcome prior decisions by the top court.

The New Brunswick government has previously warned the Comeau case has upended decades of legal thinking and strikes at the heart of Canadian federalism.