The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Free the Beer, Free the Economy!

00:00:00.000 You're listening to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.

00:00:09.000 Well, they thought they were going to have an easy day over there today, but not so fast, Mr. Speaker.

00:00:16.640 What is it going to take for the Prime Minister to have any respect for any laws in this country that may curb his out-of-control behaviour?

00:00:25.320 And now, here's your host, Tony Clement.

00:00:31.500 Welcome to Blueprint, the Conservative Party of Canada's official podcast.

00:00:36.840 I'm your host, Tony Clement, Member of Parliament for Paris Saint-Maskocca.

00:00:40.840 And I have with me as a guest, Mr. John Barlow, Member of Parliament for the Foothills in Alberta.

00:00:46.740 Welcome to the show.

00:00:47.660 Thank you very much for having me. It's an honour to be on the program.

00:00:50.340 Well, it's an honour to have you as well. This is Volume 2 of our podcast,

00:00:54.520 so you're one of our first guests, as a matter of fact.

00:00:56.600 Oh, that is a big honour.

00:00:57.660 It is a big honour, and I think that we're going to have a good conversation

00:01:00.380 because we're going to talk about Free the Beer.

00:01:03.380 And for our listeners, this is an important issue because, of course,

00:01:06.960 beer is not only important to the leisure aspect of our lives,

00:01:10.600 but it's also important to the Canadian economy.

00:01:13.020 So, John, why don't you just set the table a little bit.

00:01:15.260 Why is Free the Beer so important for the future of the Canadian economy,

00:01:19.240 and why is this such a big issue?

00:01:20.780 Well, we knew that the Canada Free Trade Agreement was going to be coming out this year,

00:01:24.900 and it was something that we had started on when we were in government.

00:01:27.340 Our colleague, James Moore, was instrumental in putting that together.

00:01:30.960 But we knew that alcohol would not be part of that Canadian Free Trade Agreement.

00:01:35.060 And we're seeing across Canada, we're Canadian.

00:01:37.000 We love beer, and we should be proud of these amazing craft beers that we have in Canada.

00:01:42.380 And it is a growing industry.

00:01:44.360 But, unfortunately, the ability for these businesses to be able to grow and expand

00:01:48.340 is literally limited by provincial boundaries.

00:01:51.780 It is very difficult for a craft brewer, a distiller, a winemaker

00:01:55.840 to be able to sell their products outside of their province

00:01:58.540 without getting permission from a provincial liquor board,

00:02:02.080 which means a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of costs,

00:02:04.760 and a lot of provinces will just simply say no.

00:02:06.920 I just want to come back to that one point,

00:02:10.400 how important the craft brewing industry is,

00:02:12.420 because I know in my constituency, I now have five craft breweries operating,

00:02:17.280 and they hire people.

00:02:19.180 They are good, year-round, full-time jobs.

00:02:22.400 And that's replicated throughout the whole country.

00:02:24.400 There are literally hundreds of craft brewers now.

00:02:26.680 Is that right?

00:02:27.340 Yeah.

00:02:28.060 In Alberta, my home province,

00:02:30.200 we are probably one of the provinces that was far behind in terms of this industry.

00:02:33.880 But we have more than 50 in Alberta.

00:02:36.280 I have five under construction in my constituency alone,

00:02:39.600 one up and operating.

00:02:41.600 But as you touched on, Tony,

00:02:42.920 what makes the craft brewing industry so attractive

00:02:46.240 is the fact that most of them are built in rural communities.

00:02:49.220 So they are bringing new economic development opportunities

00:02:51.640 to rural communities where opportunities have been limited

00:02:54.760 or been on the decline.

00:02:56.780 So not only are they bringing new jobs and new opportunities

00:02:59.680 to these rural communities,

00:03:00.700 but they're becoming tourist attractions, brewery tours.

00:03:04.260 Plus for the guys around them that are growing rye and barley

00:03:08.680 and those kinds of things,

00:03:10.000 that's something they really get excited about and buy into.

00:03:12.000 That's a really good point.

00:03:13.120 One of the breweries in my riding is in an old car plant

00:03:16.140 that was doing manufacturing parts for automobiles,

00:03:21.040 now repurposed to be a brewery.

00:03:22.580 Another one is in an old Canadian tire store repurposed for,

00:03:26.320 you know, going from retail to manufacturing.

00:03:28.560 So beer is manufactured now,

00:03:30.460 and it's part of our manufacturing prowess,

00:03:32.820 so we should be proud of that.

00:03:34.460 So tell me a little bit about what the campaign is about.

00:03:37.140 We know that beer cannot pass very easily

00:03:40.900 cross-border between province to province.

00:03:43.580 So what is the Conservative Party's Free the Beer campaign about?

00:03:46.700 Well, really, the main thing right now is raising awareness.

00:03:50.020 We want Canadians to understand that this is an issue.

00:03:52.560 We've been traveling across Canada since November.

00:03:55.660 We've done beer festivals in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Halifax.

00:04:01.240 And when you talk to Canadians about this,

00:04:03.180 not just the brewers and distillers themselves,

00:04:05.340 but also Canadians who are obviously beer enthusiasts.

00:04:08.880 We like our beer.

00:04:10.760 And they are surprisingly, they know this issue,

00:04:12.780 and they are very frustrated by the fact that we are,

00:04:16.160 as provincial and federal governments,

00:04:18.640 we are blocking the ability for these businesses to grow,

00:04:21.460 but also it impacts consumer choice.

00:04:23.540 For myself, being from Alberta,

00:04:25.540 I can't bring some of my great Alberta craft beer here to Ontario.

00:04:28.840 That's technically illegal.

00:04:30.580 Right now we have the Como case going on with New Brunswick and Quebec.

00:04:34.280 Tell me about that case a little bit.

00:04:35.600 So a couple of years ago, Bernard Como,

00:04:38.400 a gentleman from New Brunswick, crossed the border to Quebec,

00:04:41.420 bought a bunch of beer because it's significantly cheaper,

00:04:44.600 crossed the border back into New Brunswick

00:04:46.280 and was arrested and charged for transporting liquor

00:04:50.160 across provincial boundaries.

00:04:51.680 He challenged that charge and won his case.

00:04:54.940 The province of New Brunswick refused to go to appeal,

00:04:58.060 instead said, according to the Constitution,

00:05:00.580 free trade is a constitutional right,

00:05:02.200 and we want to go to the Supreme Court.

00:05:03.840 So very good news.

00:05:04.700 Last Friday, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear that case.

00:05:07.080 So this is a huge step forward and a great opportunity

00:05:09.860 that we could see free trade in Canada.

00:05:12.040 So we could get it by virtue of a Supreme Court judgment.

00:05:15.620 What you and other Conservatives are pushing for

00:05:18.500 is that this become a political issue,

00:05:20.720 that politicians do the right thing

00:05:22.420 and remove the trade barriers that are preventing beer

00:05:26.560 and other products as well from going cross-border.

00:05:30.300 Is that right?

00:05:30.900 That's correct.

00:05:31.380 You know, Section 121 of the Constitution is extremely clear.

00:05:35.600 Any product made or produced in one province

00:05:37.760 should be or shall be traded freely to other provinces.

00:05:41.120 Our founding fathers understood that free trade

00:05:43.540 was a foundational pillar of Confederation.

00:05:47.540 They knew that free trade was extremely important

00:05:49.500 into the growth of the Dominion.

00:05:51.200 But over the decades, provinces have put up barriers

00:05:54.460 and the federal government has allowed them to do it.

00:05:56.260 So we are asking the Liberal government to step up,

00:05:59.840 start fighting for Canada's economy,

00:06:02.180 act as an intervener in the Supreme Court case,

00:06:04.520 and try and influence that decision.

00:06:06.100 It is black and white in our Constitution.

00:06:08.960 It's very bizarre that it's in many cases

00:06:11.540 easier to trade with the United States of America

00:06:14.540 than it is to trade cross-border in Canada itself.

00:06:17.960 Absolutely.

00:06:18.540 I have a meadery in my constituency,

00:06:21.300 so honey wine or honey beer.

00:06:22.680 However, they have just signed a contract

00:06:24.620 to export their product to Japan

00:06:26.580 because they couldn't get an agreement

00:06:28.360 to sell it into B.C.,

00:06:29.500 which is literally an hour away.

00:06:32.780 So now he's having to go across the Pacific Ocean.

00:06:36.000 Many of our craft brewers have much easier opportunity

00:06:38.780 to sell it to Texas than Toronto.

00:06:41.440 You know, a much higher cost,

00:06:42.980 but it's a much easier process to go through.

00:06:44.800 And, you know, I would say we're probably

00:06:46.640 one of the only Western countries in the world

00:06:49.160 that has these kind of interprovincial barriers.

00:06:51.280 Yeah, no, well, that's wonderful

00:06:53.300 that our caucus, you and others,

00:06:55.520 I know Dan Albus, BC MP,

00:06:57.940 has been outspoken about this issue as well.

00:06:59.840 Many of our MPs have,

00:07:01.000 so it's good to have our MPs on the sides of,

00:07:04.100 this is really a consumer issue as well.

00:07:05.900 It's not just a political issue.

00:07:07.020 This is for choice for consumers

00:07:09.120 and pricing that is better for consumers.

00:07:11.640 Is that right?

00:07:12.200 Yeah, this is about consumer choice.

00:07:14.220 I shouldn't have a provincial liquor board

00:07:16.040 telling me as a Canadian

00:07:16.980 what I can and cannot have.

00:07:18.720 But also it's about small business.

00:07:19.980 These are small businesses who hire Canadians,

00:07:22.840 use Canadian products,

00:07:24.440 are Canadian entrepreneurs,

00:07:25.980 and we should be standing up for them

00:07:28.100 and championing their abilities

00:07:29.500 to be able to grow and succeed.

00:07:31.500 I'm speaking with John Barlow,

00:07:33.240 our Alberta MP from the Foothills.

00:07:36.060 Thank you for being on the program.

00:07:37.860 John, if our listeners hear this podcast

00:07:41.480 and they want to do something

00:07:43.460 to get involved in this campaign,

00:07:45.920 where should they go?

00:07:46.880 What should they do?

00:07:47.460 Well, we have a website,

00:07:49.060 freethebeer.net.

00:07:50.400 There's a petition online.

00:07:52.080 We're asking,

00:07:52.820 that petition is asking the federal government

00:07:54.540 to act as an intervener

00:07:55.580 in the Supreme Court case,

00:07:57.020 but also asking them to include alcohol

00:07:58.760 in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.

00:08:00.400 So there's two ways that they can get involved.

00:08:01.880 We have our petition,

00:08:02.960 but also go to our website,

00:08:05.060 freethebeer.net,

00:08:06.560 and there's a way you can sign online as well.

00:08:09.040 So freethebeer.net.

00:08:10.560 They can always go to conservative.ca,

00:08:12.700 which is the Conservative Party of Canada website.

00:08:14.760 You bet.

00:08:15.300 There are, as well,

00:08:16.760 these beer festivals coming up.

00:08:18.060 I know I've got a couple of beer festivals

00:08:19.420 in my own constituency.

00:08:21.140 You were mentioning that you've got some as well.

00:08:23.680 There'll be pop-ups there as well,

00:08:25.820 local MPs, conservative MPs,

00:08:28.080 taking this issue to where beer is being consumed.

00:08:31.120 It's a horrible job sometimes.

00:08:31.920 Responsibly, I'm sure.

00:08:32.920 Yeah.

00:08:33.580 At a little bit of music,

00:08:35.080 live music as well.

00:08:35.960 Beer fests are great.

00:08:36.920 Yeah.

00:08:37.260 So there'll be perhaps an opportunity there,

00:08:39.460 but freethebeer.net is the central site for this.

00:08:42.360 Is that right?

00:08:42.700 Yeah, that's correct.

00:08:43.620 And actually, as you know,

00:08:44.480 it's kind of a fun part of this too,

00:08:46.060 as Canada's 150th anniversary,

00:08:48.100 we have on our website,

00:08:49.380 you can vote for your favourite craft beer,

00:08:51.480 and we're going to name Canada's 50 favourite craft beer

00:08:53.660 as part of Canada's 150.

00:08:54.940 Well, that's a great thing to do.

00:08:56.780 Why not?

00:08:57.040 And I would encourage anyone

00:08:58.300 to take a look at the Muskoka

00:09:00.020 or Perry Soundcraft beers

00:09:01.200 as part of their voting.

00:09:03.040 But certainly, it's great that we're doing this

00:09:05.440 and really think that this is being

00:09:07.300 on the side of the consumer,

00:09:08.460 being on the side of our constitution,

00:09:10.340 helping our small businesses.

00:09:12.020 This is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

00:09:14.600 I'm glad you, John,

00:09:15.560 and others are a part of this movement as well.

00:09:17.940 It's a real pleasure,

00:09:18.700 and the feedback we've had from Canadians

00:09:20.340 is overwhelming.

00:09:21.360 They want to see this resolved,

00:09:22.700 and it's very frustrating

00:09:23.600 for consumers and business owners.

00:09:25.220 Absolutely.

00:09:25.780 Well, you've heard it here.

00:09:27.100 Free the Beer is live.

00:09:28.540 Freethebeer.net or conservative.ca.

00:09:31.680 You can visit either of those sites

00:09:33.080 and get part of this important movement

00:09:35.040 for beer,

00:09:36.400 for our communities,

00:09:37.860 the rural communities in particular,

00:09:39.020 but really all communities

00:09:40.540 as well as small businesses

00:09:42.740 and the consumer.

00:09:43.520 So, John Bartle,

00:09:44.180 thank you for being part of our program.

00:09:45.940 Free the Beer, everybody.

00:09:47.900 Thanks, Tony.

00:09:48.520 Thank you for listening to The Blueprint,

00:09:59.660 Canada's Conservative Podcast.

00:10:01.760 To find more episodes, interviews,

00:10:03.640 and in-depth discussions of politics in Canada,

00:10:06.060 search for The Blueprint on iTunes

00:10:07.600 or visit podcast.conservative.ca.

00:10:10.420 Thank you.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - May 09, 2017

Free the Beer, Free the Economy!

Episode Stats

Length

Words per Minute

Word Count

Sentence Count

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript