Moncton spirits producer says privatizing NB Liquor is the wrong move

MONCTON – A local spirits producer in Moncton is speaking out against the idea of privatizing NB Liquor.

Marc LeBlanc, president of Port Royal Distillers, which is known for its Snowfox Vodka, took out a newspaper ad saying NB Liquor was the right choice for New Brunswick.

LeBlanc said NB Liquor was instrumental on getting Snowfox Vodka off the ground a year and a half ago and said he’s concerned a private liquor model in the province would not care as much to support local producers.

“We did this effort to make sure that the community that we live in and we work in know that this is our corporate position and we’re proud of it,” he said.

He said typically these types of efforts could come from a lobbying association, but since they are the only major spirits manufacturer in the province, they had to go it alone.

In January, Michael Horgan, who was hired by the province to help find ways to eliminate its deficit. said privatizing NB Liquor was on the table as part of the province’s strategic program review. He was responsible for designing the federal program review in the 1990s.

“Other provinces have privatized liquor operations, so NB Liquor, I think, could be one thing to take a look at,” he said.

The provincial government did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

Moncton residents who spoke with Global News on Friday had mixed reaction to the idea.

Jake Bell said he would want to know more information about the numbers, but privatizing NB Liquor appeared reasonable to him.

“If it generates income now by selling the enterprise and that goes in to government coffers, then that’s going to offset certainly some of the deficit that we have,” he said.

Karine Pelletier said she thought NB Liquor needed to do more to bring craft beer to its stores and to promote local producers, but she wasn’t sure if privatizing would accomplish that.

“There’s a couple of laws that need to change definitely about NB Liquor. I don’t know if privatizing is the answer or not,” she said.

Michael Coleman said he supported the idea and thought it would be good for the economy.

“I think it would create competition, better prices and it would create more interesting business options for entrepreneurs that are looking for new business ideas,” he said.