Abbotsford-Mission Liberal MLA Randy Hawes said the leading bidder to privatize liquor distribution and warehousing may be too hot for the contract if there is proof it drove the process.
“I think it would be a wrong move to let Exel take over the liquor distribution system, just because all the stuff that’s out there,” Hawes told Business in Vancouver.
Documents released under Freedom of Information show that Exel vice-president Scott Lyons and lobbyists Rob Madore and Mark Jiles met then-liquor minister Shirley Bond to propose privatization on August 25, 2011, the day before the harmonized sales tax was defeated in a referendum. Bond told Lyons earlier last summer that the government was not interested in changing LDB.
Exel runs the Alberta liquor monopoly under its Connect Logistics division and is one of six companies hoping to be among the one to three bidders shortlisted by July 20. It hired Jiles and fellow Liberal lobbyist Patrick Kinsella in 2005 to seek the contract.
“If the public is very clearly opposed to it and if there’s enough of a problem with it, you should put your truck in reverse and rethink it,” Hawes said of the privatization process.
“I don’t have a lot of people phoning me saying [the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union should run] our liquor distribution system – I‘ve never heard that one time. What I hear is if this taken over by a company and they’re going to raise the prices – and we understand that they will raise prices, because they did in Alberta – that’s where I hear the objections.”
Hawes said he met with representatives of the BCGEU and the Alliance of Beverage Licensees of B.C., the trade group for pubs and private stores. Both are opposed to the privatization.
“Really what they are saying is show us the business plan,” he said. “I think what I've heard (liquor minister Rich Coleman) say is we can't really show you a business plan until we see what kind of offers come in. Well, I don't know if that's good enough, to be honest.
“What I said to the union is I’ll publicly oppose this if it can't be demonstrated that the consumer is protected. It's got to be done in the best interests of British Columbians.”
Hawes is one of 10 members of Treasury Board, the cabinet committee chaired by Finance Minister and Deputy Premier Kevin Falcon that also includes Coleman and ex-liquor ministers Bond and John Les. The three-term MLA is 65 and hasn’t decided whether he will run in the 2013 provincial election. He said he is leaning towards retirement.
Meanwhile, former LDB general manager Jay Chambers broke his silence July 16 about his departure from LDB. But he refused to answer questions about the privatization.
Chambers quit July 4 to join the Motor Vehicle Sales Authority of B.C. He said he “received some information” from MVSA in March. The privatization was announced in the February 21 budget and he announced his resignation June 14.
Chambers said it was “time for a change” after 15 years.
“If I was looking forward to retirement, I wouldn’t have pursued this opportunity.”
Chambers said he was recruited by Pinton Forrest and Madden. His LDB agenda, obtained via FOI, shows a half-hour teleconference with corporate headhunter George Madden on April 12.
“There was no conversation (with MVSA) about what was going on at the LDB. There was an interest on my part to pursue the opportunity and I said yes,” Chambers said.
Chambers denied he was under a gag order preventing him from talking to reporters after he announced his resignation.
“It was just my decision not to get involved with the conversation that was going on,” he said.
Chief financial officer Roger Bissoondatt is Chambers’s interim replacement and heads an internal committee deciding the shortlist. Wholesale and retail services executive director Kelly Wilson and warehouse operations director Ken McDonnell are the other two LDB representatives. The committee was expanded to include Citizens’ Services assistant deputy minister Bette-Jo Hughes, executive lead Richard Poutney, wholesale business director Donna Mohn and supply services executive director Dawson Brenner.
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