The New Brunswick government has been citing cost-of-living troubles that are besieging consumers from all sides in its campaign opposing a 3.1 cent increase in gasoline carbon charges on April 1, but that isn’t stopping the province’s liquor corporation from forging ahead with its own set of price hikes on the same day.
The cost of beer, wine, liquor and coolers are all set to jump on April 1, and although some of that involves an increase in federal excise taxes, most of the change comes from price increases being imposed by the province.
A case of 24 cans of domestic beer, currently selling for $43.99, is expected to jump $2 to $45.99 on Monday, a 4.5 per cent increase.
That is made up of a $1.68 increase in provincial charges, a six cent increase in federal excise taxes and HST increase of 26 cents.
Alcool N.B. Liquor, ANBL, has been announcing that increases are coming in an open letter to customers on its website, but with not much detail attached for those wondering about what that means for their favourite drinks.
“To our valued ANBL customers: To keep you as informed as possible we want you to know that ANBL will be making a price adjustment on some of our products on April 1,” reads the brief note.
According to the letter, the “average price adjustment” is 75 cents but it is not clear how that is calculated or distributed among individual products.
In an email, N.B. Liquor spokesperson Emilie Dow said the increases are designed to generate an extra $12.3 million in revenue in the coming year.
“The weighted average price increase for April 1 is 2.8 per cent,” she said.
Price increases on beer, wine and spirits in New Brunswick are coming, despite a national campaign underway by federal Conservatives to link April 1 price increases on petroleum and alcohol as a joint affront to weary consumers.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has joined that campaign on the petroleum side, where he has been criticizing the effect carbon price increases are having on families, even if they come with rebates.
Higgs told a parliamentary committee on Thursday he doesn’t believe rebates to individuals cover the full cost of carbon charges and, in his social media posts, has been arguing any extra burden on consumers is too much.
“It all adds up,” said Higgs about rising carbon charges.
“We are calling on the federal government to eliminate this unnecessary and ineffective tax permanently.”
But federal Conservatives go a step further and argue increased alcohol prices, scheduled for April 1, are also a burden that consumers do not need.
In early March, when the federal government was originally planning on increasing its excise tax on beer by 14.2 cents per 24 cans, or just over half a cent per beer, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said the amount would “kill jobs” for those working in the industry and raise costs unreasonably on consumers. He urged the increase to be abandoned.
“Will he have the humanity to let someone have a drink in peace,” Poilievre asked in question period.
Three weeks ago, the April 1 federal increase on beer was reduced to six cents per 24 cans, an amount federal Conservatives continue to oppose as punitive.
“This tax hike will cost Canadian consumers and businesses tens of millions of dollars,” says the party in an online petition it sponsors in opposition to increasing alcohol prices any amount.
However, New Brunswick has not spoken out against the six cent federal increase in the same way and instead is adding its own increases on top of it.
According to N.B. Liquor, 48 cents of the $1.68 price hike on a case of beer is caused by the expense of new provincial environmental rules on container recycling it wants to pass on to consumers. The remainder is a “regularly scheduled” pricing change.
N.B. Liquor is New Brunswick’s most profitable Crown corporation.
According to budget documents released by New Brunswick Finance Minister Ernie Steeves, the agency is expected to post net income of $199 million on sales of approximately $531 million for the fiscal year ending this week. That is $15 million more profit than it budgeted for.
