Battle froths over crossborder beer buying
A man who was arrested after driving to Quebec from New Brunswick to buy cheaper beer said Thursday he’s looking forward to airing his constitutional challenge in court next month as a defence crowdfunding campaign gets underway.
In an interview from Tracadie, N.B., Gerard Comeau said he just wants to know whether he has the right to buy his beer in Quebec.
“The Canadian Constitution says you’ve got the right to go buy any Canadian merchandise in any province and bring it from one province to the next,” Comeau said. “So is it against the law? That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
As part of a sting operation, RCMP arrested Comeau, now 62, in October 2012 when he returned with 12 cases of beer and three bottles of liquor which he bought legally in Pointe-a-la-Croix, Que., just across the river from Campbellton, N.B. Police seized the booze and charged him with illegally importing alcohol into his home province.
Cross-border alcohol shopping is a regular thing in the area and the retired power lineman had been making the run two or three times a year into Quebec to score beer at about half the New Brunswick price.
However, provincial law in New Brunswick related to federal anti-smuggling efforts during the height of Prohibition, forbids importing more than one bottle of wine or 12 pints of beer from any other province. The restrictions, stiffer than importing alcohol from the U.S., carry a $292.50 fine for violators.
Comeau’s case has drawn support from the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which this week launched a crowdfunding drive in an effort to raise $20,000 for a fight that seems destined to be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Constitutional experts will testify at the hearing in Campbellton slated to start Aug. 24.
Besides offering an entertaining history lesson, the foundation said it wants Canadians to help back Comeau in a case it says is crucial to interprovincial trade.
The foundation said the trade barriers benefit government monopoly sales agencies while constraining private business and citizens. As a result, billions of dollars in provincial revenues are at stake and could affect industries as diverse as eggs, poultry and dairy products.