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s a recently retired employee of the Liquor Distribution Branch, I have been watching with interest the recent proposal by the Liberal government to privatize the distribution system branch and sell its warehouses.
This has come about with no consultation and no business case to show why or how this is beneficial to the taxpayers of the province.
This reminds me of the announcement at the beginning of the Liberals’ term in office, about a decade ago, to privatize the entire LDB. Again, no solid reasons or business case, just a hastily concocted idea. The public was generally against the proposal and after the minister in charge fumbled the ball and closer examination by the government, the idea was shelved.
There is one major difference this time around, though. After feeling burned by the government reversal 10 years ago, this time, the private sector liquor industry and the government employes are on the same side of the fence. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
With less than one year left in their mandate, there is no way the Liberal government should be pushing this major shift in operations through without first, the numbers to back their position, and then a serious public debate. Once the air is cleared and the facts are out, it should then be up to the next government, be it the Liberals, NDP or Conservatives, to make the call.
In closing, I can offer a personal insight which is probably the main reason I am confused by the proposed government sell-off.
While attending 25-years-worth of managers’ meeting in my former life, I heard a lot of the same proclamations, told a little differently by a host of messengers.
One that routinely came up was of our warehouses — how efficiently they ran and that they had a unit shipping cost that the private sector was envious of.
My question, then, is what has gone so wrong in the two years since my departure to propose such a radical change to an operation that was regularly praised in the past by the LDB hierarchy?
Ray Noble
Vernon
