Law Times

Page 6 January 19, 2015 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT Beer battles brewing t's turning out to be the year the Beer Store finally came under major scrutiny. With light finally shone on the Beer Store's lucrative deal that restricts beer sales at the LCBO and the close links between On- tario's political parties and the major brewers, people are asking se- rious questions about whether the current system should continue. Just last week, Toronto lawyer Michael Hassell put the province on notice that he would be brin ging a legal challenge to s. 3(e) of the Liquor Control Act that grants Brewers Retail Inc. monopoly status as the only private company able to sell beer to the public without brewing it. The draft notice calls it "an unreasonable restraint of trade, contrary to equitable principles of fairness and contrary to public policy." Hassell is also a co-owner of Barge Craft Beer Distribution and Retail Co. Ltd. Since it doesn't brew beer, the act prohibits the com- pany from distributing and retailing craft beer in Ontario as it seeks to do. The company argues the Beer Store monopoly is detrimental to Ontario's economy. The lawsuit comes, of course, amid not only increased scrutiny of the Beer Store's lucrative arrangement but also the provincial gov- ernment's effort to wrestle as much as $100 million a year from it through a licensing fee. As a result, we could see the province win more money from the existing system or, if Hassell is successful, a significant takedown of the current arrangement. The province, of course, is likely to push for more money from what we have now, Language rights on SCC agenda as Canada readies for election year lberta's francophone com- munity is heading to the Supreme Court of Canada later this month to try to win back French-language rights granted by Queen Victoria 146 years ago when the province was still part of Rupert's Land. The court decided on Dec. 29 that it would hear the case in the new year. It didn't make much news. Most Canadi- ans had other things on their minds at that time. The matter promises, however, to be a major constitutional case in an elec- tion year and every bit as important for Alberta as the Georges Forest case in Manitoba three decades ago that restored government services in both English and French. Like the Forest case, it all began with an English-only traffic ticket. In 2003, Gilles Caron, a French- speaking Albertan, received an English- only traffic ticket. Caron said the incident had violated his constitutional rights and went to court. Another holder of an English- only traffic ticket, Pierre Boutet, would later join him in the fight. Caron had a good case, said the provincial court of Alberta when it ruled in his favour in July 2008. The reasoning was solid, the court said, especially in light of the historical docu- ments Caron had produced. Back in England in 1869, Queen Victoria had issued a royal proclamation giving full status to the French lan- guage of the Métis people. It rescued the Métis people from the Americans who were eyeing Rupert's Land. It was a huge piece of land with enormous natural wealth that includ- ed what's now Alberta, Saskatchewan, much of Manitoba, the Northwest Ter- ritories, Nunavut, and part of Labrador. The royal proclamation would be- come part of Alberta's entry into Cana- da in 1905. Additionally, since Saskatch- ewan also entered Canada in 1905, it would also come under the royal proc- lamation. The Court of Queen's Bench reversed the decision in December 2009 with a ruling upheld by the Alberta Court of Appeal on Feb. 21, 2014. Now, the Su- preme Court will weigh in. Suddenly, the case was a whole lot bigger given the various constitutional implications. All sorts of groups joined in the case now that it was going to the Supreme Court: the French-Canadian As- sociation of Alberta, vari- ous French-language trust- ees and school boards, the French-speaking Lawyer's Association of Alberta, and Métis and First Nations or- ganizations. Even the Sas- katchewan government joined in. However convincing that royal proclamation of 1869 may seem at first glance, it doesn't necessarily win the case for Caron and his fellow Franco- Albertans. As Alberta Appeal Court Judge Pa- tricia Rowbotham pointed out in her judgment last year, when Alberta offi- cially joined Canada in 1905, the federal government never spelled out that the new province would have a bilingual court and justice system. It could easily have said so had it wanted to. And finally, in 1998, both the Alberta and Saskatchewan provincial govern- ments applied English-language unilin- gualism to provincial laws and courts. Now the scene shifts to the Supreme Court. It could take a year or maybe more to sort out the issue. Lawyers representing Alberta fran- cophones include Michel Doucet, Mar k Power, and François Larocque. They have until the end of January to file their docu- ments to get started in the Supreme Court. It isn't clear who will be paying the legal bills for the Albertans. The lower court cases so far have cost the Franco- Albertans about $65,000. Saskatchewan francophones gave another $62,000 as their share. Last April in a radio interview, Caron said: "I feel I'm in a province whose lead- ers are anti-French. They want to assim- ilate us. They want French to disappear." A caller later replied: "He could move to Winnipeg and get all the French traf- fic tickets he wants." It turned out the caller was from Manitoba. Caron's lawyer, Roger Lepage, got in the final word: "I don't think it's healthy for Canada to live with two linguistic solitudes. We need key institutions such as our legislatures, our courts, and our laws to be in both official languages." It will be up to the Supreme Court to decide the issue later this year. LT Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e- mail address is richardcleroux@rogers. com. ©2015 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, com- pleteness or currency of the contents of this pub- lication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. 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The Beer Store has already offered up limited and still u nsatisfactory change while the legal and politi- cal wrangling should result in a better deal for the province and, potentially, consumers. Let's hope the brewers realize it's better to negotiate a way out of a mess that's likely to worsen rather than battle their growing list of adversaries. — Glenn Kauth The Hill Richard Cleroux A I

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