It looks like the provincial government has found a way to “re-interpret” the old law to allow for wine auctions to continue (that is until the silliness is properly dissolved through new legislation). Nevertheless, the language employed in the press release above is pretty vague, and it sure reads like it was penned by an English nanny in 1902, which is to say it’s not particularly encouraging. Even though some further clarity would be helpful, it’s not every day that press releases become policy positions, and I doubt inspectors will be trolling charity auctions any time soon. The quick volte face can be chalked up to the #BCwinechat gas (1.9 million impressions in less than 24hrs), which attracted the media, which is still the only thing that lights fires under political asses. Twitter, eh? Pfft. Who knew?
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It strikes me that the wording of this letter does nothing to resolve my initial concern when I heard of this: the Vancouver Fringe Festival’s bar.
My understanding is that the Fringe gets a massive amount of alcohol donated which they then sell at the bar (for consumption at the event.) This makes the bar basically 100% profit, and a major source of revenue.
The letter above states that the alcohol “…must not be consumed at the event.” So it may only cover the auction scenarios, and the Fringe may be left out in the cold.