By Kyle Ross, MGEU President

The Stefanson government’s full-on privatization of provincial liquor sales went into overdrive last week with the introduction of Bill 30.

The new legislation provides a five-year pilot program, where select retail outlets will be permitted to sell some, or all, of the products carried by Liquor Marts. When combined with the government’s other liquor privatization legislation currently making its way through the legislature (Bill 9), the two bills pose a very dangerous threat to Manitoba’s public services, community safety, and the jobs of hundreds of MBLL workers.

The government claims they do not plan to close any Liquor Marts as a result of these pieces of legislation. But that is a red herring. They are clearly following the privatization playbook laid out in Saskatchewan. In that province, the profits at public SLGA stores dropped over time as a result of the market being flooded by more private retailers. Public stores were slowly shut down until all were sold off when their conservative government said they no longer deemed them to be profitable. This legislation from the Stefanson government is seeking the same result.

Even worse, they introduced this legislation as two bad bills, instead of one large one. That means it will be more difficult for the Opposition to effectively block them as they’ve previously done with other liquor privatization legislation.

As a supporter of our  Keeping Liquor Public campaign, you’ve been instrumental in helping us push back against this government’s liquor privatization plans.

Will you help us fight back once again?
 

What you can do right now to keep liquor public:

• Send a message to the Premier and encourage your friends and family to do the same.
• Follow the KLP page on Facebook and Like/Share our posts.
• Have your say! Once Bills 9 and 30 proceed to legislative committee, you will have a chance to make your voice heard.

Thanks for spreading the word about our campaign and helping to push back against the Stefanson government’s privatization plan.

Let’s fight to stop Bill 9 and Bill 30!