Heard the latest? MP Dan Albas now claims his private member’s Bill C-311 will create more jobs.
How exactly does inter-provincial trade create jobs? I wasn’t aware that his bill was designed to make Canadians drink more. If I buy more Ontario wine I’m obviously going to buy less B.C. wine. Right? So is Albas serious or just desperate?
Besides, everyone knows the provinces are addicted to the revenue they collect from taxing liquor. That’s why Alberta and Ontario, and even Albas’s home province of B.C., are lining up to severely restrict how much liquor residents will be able to import tax-free after Bill C-311 passes. And the fact that Albas didn’t anticipate this shows a complete lack of competence.
Albas says he hopes the provinces “will recognize the spirit and intent of the bill.” That’s a good one. When’s the last time a province stood idly by and let tax revenue slip between its fingers? Hope in politics is for treehuggers and fools.
Bill C-311 was never intended to help the wine industry succeed as Albas claims. Only increased exports of wine out of Canada will do that. It was intended to aggrandize Dan Albas and nothing more.
If Albas really wanted to help Canadians he would’ve done something to free up trade in food as well as booze. Better yet, work with the provinces to begin eliminating sin taxes. After all, we’re just shuffling money from one pocket to the other by taxing ourselves in this way.
Mischa Popoff
Osoyoos