Village too small for liquor outlet, SLGA contends
Owners of seasonal grocery store in Dilke contend policy is unfair and irrational
SASKATOON Jackie Kuntz and her husband Doug are not happy about changes to the way retail liquor permits are distributed in Saskatchewan, which they say are incoherent, unfair and could jeopardize their business near Regina.
Two years ago, the couple opened a seasonal grocery store in Dilke, a village of about 100 people off Highway 11 east of Chamberlain. They aimed to serve people who summer in the resort communities along Last Mountain Lake.
The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) refused under its new rules to grant them, or anyone else who lives in a community smaller than 500 people, a retail liquor permit.
“It doesn’t seem fair. It doesn’t seem rational,” Jackie Kuntz said, adding that while Dilke does not meet the government agency’s population threshold, the regional population swells dramatically in the spring and summer.
“There’s nothing out there for miles around,” she said, noting that people leaving their cabins face a roughly 55-kilometre round trip to the nearest off-sale, which is in Bethune.
Regina is a little farther, about an hour away.
The Saskatchewan government pledged to allocate permits based on population in 2015, but the new rules, which range from one permit for small communities to 40 for cities larger than 275,000 people, were not rolled out until this spring.
Kuntz said she was aware of SLGA’S plans to develop a population-based matrix when she and her husband opened KDK Grocery two years ago, but she never had reason to believe her community would be excluded as too small.
She and her husband are not the only ones unhappy about the decision.
In early 2018, almost 150 residents of Dilke and the surrounding area signed a petition asking SLGA to grant KDK Grocery a retail liquor permit.
“With the closure of the Dilke Hotel in 2016, residents … have been without the opportunity to purchase liquor products locally for nearly two years,” states the petition, a copy of which was provided to the Saskatoon Starphoenix.
Village of Dilke councillor Lavern Chipiska echoed that sentiment in an April 9, 2018 letter to SLGA President Cam Swan. Having the ability to purchase goods and services “contributes to the survival of rural communities,” it noted.
“Is there a reason why government entities are denying rural residents access to products/services that are readily available to urban residents throughout the province?” Chipiska wrote in the letter.
Access to products in villages and other small communities across the province will also benefit people who live in the province’s almost 300 rural municipalities, said Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities President Ray Orb.
SLGA spokesman David Morris said considering seasonal populations “could impact other neighbouring retailers in the area that operate year round (including the non-peak season months) and potentially affect the overall viability of those businesses.”
Morris, in an emailed statement, went on to say the new rules provide “an objective way to decide the maximum number of retail liquor stores,” and that there are no plans to reconsider it.
The SLGA’S new permit allocation system has also been criticized for favouring large corporations, who are believed to have a better chance in the online auction for any new permits.
The Kuntzes said they are worried about the future of their business without a liquor permit. Jackie said it doesn’t make sense that permits are denied to every community in the province with fewer than 500 people.
“They seem to issue them like Halloween candy in urban centres.”
They seem to issue them like Halloween candy in urban centres.