voluble

Minimum pricing in AB, AFAIK, is regulated on the wholesale price of the product. So, producers are regulated, but retail stores aren't prevented from competition, loss leaders, stunts, etc., which is what this might be.

Given that the tax money from alcohol/tobacco just goes into provincial and federal slush funds that proportionately end up being funneled into seniors benefits, I don't believe minimum pricing really addresses the things that people think it does. I'm an advocate of directing alcohol taxes towards the harms it creates. But, try to find a politician who wants to grind that axe. I say this as someone who enjoys a good beverage, & acknowledging the pragmatic importance of offsetting the healthcare costs of alcohol abuse. I don't believe that simply making a good more expensive is the wisest move on the policy side, if healthcare outcomes are the ultimate target.

Alberta does have minimum prices for both wholesale as well as on-premise liquor.

For the interested, my estimate is that $34.28 of this sticker price is liquor tax.

Federal excise is $13.93 per litre of absolute alcohol. Normally, AB provincial liquor tax is $13.76 per litre of volume, but this 4L is probably self-distributed by an AWP producer. They get reduced rates that scale based on the volume of production. Here, I'd guess it's something like $3 per litre of volume.

AB government advocacy for local craft producers: Drake no

AB government advocacy for gambling and cannabis: Drake yes

The liquor regulation system in Alberta is prohibitionary already. What changes would you want to see?

Every cheap clear spirit from an AB producer is proofed, or re-distilled 97%abv neutral grain spirit from a factory in Saskatchewan. The neutral grain spirit from Saskatchewan is very high quality, so, actually kind of impossible to fuck up. Some distilleries actually manage to, however.

Median wage of $45k per year is wild. Tough to live comfortably on that in most cities in this country.

Talking points printed for comrades at the Russian troll farm

FYI just about any liquor product manufactured in North America has spent substantial time in an HDPE tote.

OP, are you saying there are homes in Quebec that a person making $30k a year can buy? If so, tabarnak, I need to learn French.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

In the case at-hand, Legault certainly looks like a guy who was grasping at straws for a lighter hand from the justice system. Not sure who would need to be 'paid' in this circumstance.

As a sidebar, I believe Gladue explicitly addresses loss of language and connection with background as an impact of colonialism that must be considered in sentencing, i.e., it's not necessary to have a deep connection with Indigenous heritage / culture to be considered via Gladue. But yeah, not a factor in this case, which the judge went to great lengths to point out.

Anyway, the sentencing referenced some material that pointed me to the case of writer Joseph Boyden, who falsely claimed Indigenous ancestry. Led me to an article by Wab Kinew about the issue titled There is room in our circle for Joseph Boyden. If you don't mind sharing, what's your take on Kinew's stance?

I ask because it strikes me as antipodal from your view, and I'm just not sure what to think about the issue of identity here.

Man, fuck these UCP idiots.

Provincial governments need to work closely with the federal government. The provincial government actually has a responsibility to establish and nurture that relationship, and not simply throw temper tantrums when the relationship isn't what they want it to be. When the UCP chooses to be oppositional and obstructive like this, it hurts Alberta citizens, and makes life worse.

There are a lot of things I love about Alberta. But if the next provincial election shows that a majority of the citizens truly want a provincial government that behaves like this, I'm outta here.