The Beer Bust

NB Liquor Admits Beer was a Bust

Actually, the official news release from Booze HQ said no such thing - but if you read between the lines it's there.

What the press flak from NB Liquor actually said was that they were "very pleased with these results". In August, the store brand beer generated about 1% of all beer sales. To put that into perspective, the booze corp sold 1 million (!!) cases of beer in August and 990,000 of those were NOT the Selection brand.

This despite the fact that you can't walk into a liquor store without tripping over the Selection Beer display.

So regardless of the fact that August share of sales were down over 60% from the initial launch, that is apparently one for the win column at the booze bunker.

They are even claiming that the $18.67 cases were the reason why beer sales have increased in New Brunswick. The problem with that analysis? When you take away the Selection numbers, beer sales were still up! So basically if they had done nothing they would still be making money. But we guess that's true of any monopoly.

Curiously absent from the presser was any mention of how sales affected border communities. You may recall that the whole reason given for entering into an untendered contract with Moosehead to produce Selection Beer was to compete with low prices in Quebec. Does anyone know what Selection sales were like in places like Edmundston and Campbellton?

Liberal. The L stands for Lobbyist.

Here at the New Brunswick Conservative, we are shocked at the level of incompetence the Graham government has attained.

Well, not really, that is kind of what you would call a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.

But we did not think it would become so obvious to so many in such a short period of time.

Well, that too is kind of what you would call a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.

We knew the Liberal bench was shallower than the Becaguimac in August, but we thought the senior bureaucrats King Shawn placed in important positions would be highly skilled, best-of-the-best and very qualified.

Well, that would also be termed a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.

But the fact is that the presidency of a major NB Crown Corporation was given to a political hack with no qualifications, simply because he was in the room when the 'good patronage jobs' were being handed out. How could that happen you say? Simple. The presidency of NB Liquor was given to the person who most helped Shawn take the Premier's chair. The former Executive Director of the Liberal Party of NB. Because everyone knows political party EDs are a proving ground for executives.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/04/13/nb-clendenning-conflict.html

Once even the left wing elites at the CBC point out the emperor (president of NB Liquor)has no clothes, you know it must be obscene. The Graham government has taken incompetence to a new low.

Evidently $140,00 per year to tour wineries around the globe and abuse New Brunswick consumers with exorbitant pricing is not enough. You must then socialize the beer making business and use accounting rules for toilet paper to fudge your numbers.

But wait, there is more. You get caught up in a conflict of interest investigation. But El Presidente has an out. He allegedly only took the money (the quid), he did not provide the 'pro quo'.

For those that do not know Latin (or do, since I am a product of the NB Education system), to make it clear, the allegation is the lobbyist took the 'Consulting Fee', but the Lobbyist did not deliver the required 'Patronage'

Corruption is a very harsh word. But sometimes only very blunt words will deliver a very blunt message. We have corruption at the highest levels of the Graham government, and it must be expunged.

If the Premier has any ethics left, he will ask the President of NB Liquor to resign, before the case comes before the judge.

NB Liquor needs to be led by someone with the skills required for the job. Maybe El Presidente could become the President of RDC and just shovel money around ridings that are winnable in 2010.

* This is not a Guarantee