CAQ activists will use their party’s congress on May 13-14 to rekindle the idea of ending the monopoly of the Société des alcools du Québec, an old commitment that François Legault has nonetheless renounced.
“End of the SAQ monopoly”: this is the title of a proposal that the CAQ activists from Saint-Jérôme – the cavalry of MP Youri Chassin – wrote in the notebooks of the participants at their congress in Sherbrooke.
According to them, the producers of spirits, ciders and wines from Quebec are currently facing “too heavy bureaucracy” “due to the monopoly of the Société des alcools du Québec”.
In addition to denouncing the “disproportionate profit margin” imposed on local producers, the wording of the proposal also attacks the methods used by the SAQ against wine importers and overseas producers, such that some are now reluctant to do business with Crown Corporation.
an old promise
CAQ members have long called for an end to the SAQ monopoly. In March 2014, François Legault said he would consider privatizing the SAQ for a second term should he take power.
“I don’t see what the government is doing about the sale of alcoholic beverages in Quebec. I don’t think it’s part of the government’s mission,” he said at the time.
Four years later, CAQ MP for Granby, François Bonnardel, made a formal commitment: “We want to liberalize the alcohol market in Quebec. Quebecers are ready for it,” he confided in an interview with Le Journal.
Then, in the fall of 2018, during the election campaign, François Legault had carefully avoided committing himself to breaking the SAQ’s monopoly.
Six months after taking power, the prime minister officially closed the door and opted for the status quo.
“It’s paying off very well,” Legault said
Ultimately, the Legault administration ruled out all or part of the state-owned company’s privatization based on a $182,000 study commissioned by the previous Liberal government.
In the last election, it was more likely Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime who promised “wine liberation” during a visit to a winery in Saint-Anne-de-la-Pérade.
The CAQ manager, who also visited a winery in Montérégie that day, immediately ruled out liberalization of the alcohol market. “It’s not in our plans. (…) It works well, then it makes a lot of money,” Mr. Legault then dropped.
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