NB Liquor warns of closure over beer fight

A New Brunswick man will take his fight over the right to buy his beer in Quebec.

Richard Smith, senior vice-president with the NB Liquor Corp., testified Tuesday at a court hearing where Gerard Comeau of Tracadie is mounting a constitutional challenge after he was charged with illegally importing alcohol into New Brunswick from neighbouring Quebec.

Guy Savoie, who arrested Gerald Comeau three years ago with several cases of beer, is the first witness of the day.

A senior official with New Brunswick’s liquor company is defending a regulation that limits anybody within the province from having greater than 12 pints of beer that weren’t bought by a provincially licensed liquor outlet.

A trial that could alter Canada’s laws around transporting liquor between provinces is continuing in Campbellton on Wednesday.

The defence argues that a section of the Liquor Control Act is unconstitutional because Section 121 of the Constitution Act says all goods from a province are to be admitted free into each of the other provinces.

Comeau is also supported by the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which believes the case will eventually result in a challenge before the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Canadian Constitution Foundation litigation director Karen Selick said a ruling favorable in this case is expected to have implications beyond the alcohol trade.

“I can’t imagine any kind of compromise decision that would satisfy both parties”, she said. Should you be allowed to bring booze across the Quebec boarder? “If the province wants people to buy beer here then they can put the price down”.