6 ~ North Shore News — Sunday, April 16, 2000

NDP has made a good deci-
sion in allowing brewpubs to sell
their beer off-premises.

Of course, the government's deci-
sion to allow brewpub beer to be sold
in liquor stores and other licensed
establishments is not the result of sage
and reasonable consideration.

It follows a Supreme Court ruling
that upheld a previous Liquor Appeal
Board decision allowing brewpubs to
sell their products outside their places
of. business. in other words: after:
another long and bitter battle waged
against free enterprise.

The battle cry of Victoria’s
Spinnakers Brewpub, which spearhead-
ed the fight, and similarly enterprising
brewpub operations like North
“. Vancouver’s Sailor Hagar’s was simple:
“2 -variety is good; competition is good.

Deering, ‘dite of the late Glenys Deering:
Robby ‘on: her family alues Of civic involvement exemplifed by
in her public life. Omang | Newrn

North ‘Vancouver School District 44 secretary-treasurer
‘Turin,’ describing the: reaction of Seycove. secondary
ol’s principal Dick Burns after the provincial government —

wed $4.5 million for a much- needed, bur much-delayed

VIEW POINT.

od brew

Thus they pushed for approval to
reach a wider market and were origi-
ually led to believe they would be
allowed to do so. But Big Beer flexed
its lobbying muscle and that approval
was denied brewpubs at the lasr
moment. Thus the brewpub brouhaha.

Brewpubs righdy argued that whiie
they were prevented from marketing
their brew in B.C. liquor stores, brew-
pubs lacated in the U.S. and Europe
were not similarly restricted.

Production from the province’s 18
brewpubs, meanwhile, is hardly a
threat to major breweries: a paltry 0.5%
of the beer consumed in B.C.

Aside from the brewpubs, the big
winner in this decision is the consumer,
who will have more choice, more com-
petition and better products. Too bad
the NDP couldn’t sce to appreciate
those benefits from the start.

— Is Alli

‘ONE important point about the
- new Canadian Alliance party

(the former
Reform Party plus
an already healthy
trickle of Tory
converts) has so
far received scant
attention.
The big question
. mark hanging over the
_-” furure of the Alliance —
- along with its choice of
‘a leader on June 24 -——
is NOT how to win

‘Ontario votes. It’s how to win Ontario

meee cncwe nec sesccesscessermensccsecaccetoreoes

‘en Are

Jean CHRETION KeePS His PRomise To aRaFaT:

WEY... WE
AN Tape 8 NT.

lance ‘really all-

It still does.

Meanwhile, many Ontarians still tend
to regard Reformers: turned-Alliancers as
a bunch of Bible-
thumping rednecks
from the boonies.
Meanwhile, parallel
West-versus-Central
issues carry over into
the leadership race
itself, now well under.
way. Many argue that
the surest way to win
adequate Ontario votes
in the next federal elec-
tion is to pick an
Ontarian as the new
~ Alliance leader. This would mean, in’
the whiz-kid back- .

tang eh pebgetes’
datas can do that for Any idiot can do data mining.”
thie Books Led. ix you. ay ot on the rise of book |
an April 9 News Sunday Focus.) °

[can’t Un
t I contributed to the raucous, kick-ass

ie beng in:
your head pes fe
lover Nancy Cameron, on s
(From the. same Ape 9 News Sind y Focus ).

the next election cainpal paiga so T can sry

1couver City Coun, Craig Keating, expressing

ic support for bringing the NewMusicWest 2900 -

’ to the‘city. (From an a6 7 This Week story.)

ground- emma

: Korth Shora News, fazed in 1969 as an oa

indeyerdent suburtan newspper and quasied 7

* under Schedule 411, Paragraph 131 of the

Excise Tax Act 's pubkshed eath Wednesday,

+» Friday and Sunday by HCN Pubscations
~' Company and distrietes to every door on the
North Shore. Canada Post Cenadian Publations
: Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238.”
77 Mailing rates avaiable on request, ~~

- votes, without losing part of the solid
block of B.C., Alberta and Prairie votes”

which achieved the remarkable feat of
bringin ‘4 Reform from its founding meet-
ing to the status of Her, Majesty’s Loyal
Opposition i in just 10 short years.
:2” Put more bluntly, the Alliance faces

the considerable challenge of persuading ,

the West and Ontario to hop happily
into the same political bed.

That means ending the historic alien-
ation of the West from Central Canada,

typified by issues ranging from Trudeau’s

fated National Oil Policy, through
B.C.’s fish wars to today’s clash with
Ottawa over niedicare by Alberta
Premier Ralph Klein.
Reform was born and grew to maturi-
ty as a “grass roots” party precisely
because it articulated the disillusionment’
of many Westerners with the old-linc

‘ parties based on Central Canada, which

time and again subjugated western inter-
ests to those of Ontario and Quebec:
Hence, Reform’s carly battle cry, “the:
West wants in!” ,

practice, Tom Long,

room strategist of Intario Premier Mike .

Harris’ Tory government — the onl
other Ontario entrant being an almost
com letely unknown lawyer, Joc
Peschisolido.
> uo Phe three other contenders — front.
“runners Preston Maaning and Stockwell’,

“support. .
But Long, despite never + having held :

elected office and speaking no. French, is
backed by the entire Harris government

and aims to sign up as many as 100,000 ~

- new members for the Alliance. If success-
. ful, he can certainly give Manning and
Day a run for their money. on June 24.
All this aside, however, the accusation
that Reform failed to win Ontario seats -.
because it was led by Manning simply
makes no sense.
Reform failed because of vote-split-
‘ing with Joe Clark's Tories. Bur ah ready
the Alliance has gained such momentum,

Day, and B.C. MP Keith Martin — are ©’
all Westerners.-For the moment Manning a
‘and Day lead the field is in terms of caucus. :

SP) ty matt

anadian:

while Clark's tater red party rump is suf.”
fering so many losses, that the right-wing
vote-splitting of the two past elections i
inconceivable.

Regardless of who leads the Aliian 5
it will be the primary choice next time.
for right-wing Ontario voters. |,

Back finally, however, to that politi
bed-partners scene. Can the Alliance es
forge a happy and lasting marriage
between Western grass routs and Central ..
Canada’s population-based political
clout? If, in particular, leadership hope!
Tom Long succeeds in signing uy; :

* 100,000 new Alliance members in’

: Ontario, will Western hopes of at |

becoming a respected and listened:
contributor to the national agenda with

er once again on the vine? ...
Such -was the goal that brough:

Reform, ied by Preston Mannin,

7 SO,
and so fast within a single decade. Bu
a vast country with widely divergen'

- interests trom coast to coast (thi

viving realiti
- Let’s hope the Canadian Aig

asa ‘governmient-in-wai

‘the exception.

‘others’ mistakes — you ‘¢:

igh to make the:

Lert eas 10 THE EDITOR.
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