Notley vows support for Alberta brewers

CALGARY •AlbertaPremier Rachel Notley, reacting to a proposed $100-million class action lawsuit over her province’s beer subsidies, says her government will continue to find ways to support its homegrown industry.

Notley declined to speak to the lawsuit directly on Friday, given it is before the courts.

But she said Alberta is finished supporting liquor industries in other provinces at the expense of its own brewers.

“We have the most profitable market for other provinces to sell their product into, yet you can’t find Alberta product in almost any other province,” Notley said.

“We have spent a long time here in Alberta supporting the liquor industries of other provinces, and it’s about time that we stand up for Alberta producers and the workers who are working in this province.”

A lawsuit just filed in Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary against the province seeks $100 million on behalf of out-of-province beer producers and others in the industry.

At issue is a program where brewers in Alberta pay the same $1.25 tax per litre on beer, but Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci introduced grants in 2016 to help small Alberta producers expand their businesses.

Last year, an independent panel found Alberta’s moves contravened interprovincial trade policies contained in Canada’s Agreement on Internal Trade.

An appeal panel came to the same conclusion in June, saying the grant program “distorts the playing field.”

Also in June, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge determined the subsidy program was unconstitutional and ordered Alberta to pay $2 million to two out-of-province brewers.

Great Western Brewing Co. of Saskatoon is to receive the majority of the restitution — $1.9 million — while Torontobased Steam Whistle Brewing is entitled to nearly $164,000.

Alberta is appealing that decision.

Having lost three times over its subsidy, Alberta is now facing another challenge.

The latest lawsuit also seeks reparations for losses incurred due to the provincial beer subsidy program.

The claim, filed by Toronto-based law firm Rochon Genova, says the Notley government’s “discriminatory and unlawful price markups” for beer impaired the sale of Canadian beer manufactured outside Alberta but sold inside the province.

“Out-of-province craft beer producers and their agents … suffered economic deprivation from the illegal markups and related measures because they resulted in an effectively higher price for their beer in Alberta,” the claim states.

One of the plaintiffs named in the class-action case is Calgary-based Artisan Ales Consulting, a beerimporting agency that has become a thorn in the side of Ceci since he introduced the new policies.

Artisan co-owner Mike Tessier said he decided to join the new lawsuit after initiating and winning the earlier trade panel dispute against the province, followed by Alberta’s loss in the recent Court of Queen’s Bench decision in June.

“They have lost three times. They have hurt my business and they shouldn’t have, so I figure I’ll be the biggest pain in the ass to them that I can be,” Tessier said.