| Canadian Courts Anti-Beer by Jennifer Bartlet Hello Bob and Friends - You have many readers here in Canada but I don't often see letters from us so I'm taking the initiative and writing. You many not realize that when it comes to craft beer Canada has been pretty much on a roll the last few years. But a major weakness of beer life in Canada was illuminated tvery recently when our Supreme Court upheld a ban on transporting any more than 12 pints of beer from one province. Twelve pints? It may be hard to believe for you south of our border but Canada's top court upheld a New Brunswick liquor law limiting the amount of alcohol that can be carried across its provincial border. Here's the story - In 2012, Gerald Comeau was stopped and fined for bringing more than the 12-pint limit of beer back from neighbouring Quebec. He took the matter to court in a case quickly dubbed "free the beer". Mr Comeau's legal battle was watched closely by industries across the country because any change in interprovincial trade restrictions could have had ramifications nationwide. Mr. Comeau is a New Brunswick retiree who said he simply liked to drive to pick up beer in the province of Quebec, where he could get a bargain on a few cases. When returning from one trip in October 2012, he had his liquor purchases seized from his car boot, and was fined C$292 ($230; £170). His lawyers argued the country's internal trade barriers infringed on Mr Comeau's constitutional rights by conflicting with a section of the constitution that states that Canadian goods shall "be admitted free into each of the other provinces". To clarify for you Bob, unlike your states,most provinces set limits on the amount of alcohol a person can bring back from another province for personal consumption. , Well, I agree with M. Comeau's argument but the judges didn't as they issued a unanimous decision, saying that free trade across Canada was not an absolute. Their ruling emphasised the powers of the individual provinces to make laws within their own jurisdictions, even if - as in the case of New Brunswick's liquor restrictions - coincidental limits were placed on free trade. They went on to say that Interpreting the constitution to "require full economic integration would significantly undermine the shape of Canadian federalism, which is built upon regional diversity within a single nation". Sounds good but I'm not buying it. As I see it the ruling is not only about beer but explains how the court looks at federalism The issue of provincial jurisdiction and federal government powers has cropped up in a number of recent hot-button issues ihere from cannabis to carbon taxes and pipelines. Hope you found this interesting enough to put in your column. Thanks ---------- Really interesting article, Jennifer. You even got me to take out an old US history book to look at the constitutional relationship between the federal government and the states here. Many thanks for sharing with us - please write again! I'd like to invite everyone to send me their own columns about anything related to beer in any way just as Jennifer did. I select the best and publish them here. So join in and get writing! Cheers! Bob |
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