PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
by Al Arbuthnot, President, ABLE BC

A topic of concern to all members is enforcement. Enforcement regulations are an integral component to the value of our licenses. However, those regulations should not make it impossible to conduct day-to-day business. ABLE has a running dialogue with Karen Ayers, General Manager of Liquor Control & Licensing, to convey areas of concern and make sensible recommendations for necessary change. Mariana speaks to some of these items further on in the magazine.

We recently met with Karen Ayers, and among many topics discussed was the issue of inspector discretion. In reality, your liquor inspector should be someone who offers guidance and recommendation, but I find this is not the case when speaking with many licensees. The impression I get is that the inspector is looked upon as someone who is out to catch them. The current policy is that an inspector must issue a contravention notice, no matter what the infraction is or how minor it is. 

For those of you taking your case to an enforcement hearing and would like consideration given to a monetary penalty rather than a suspension, you must ask for that consideration. The branch is not obligated to offer it to you. If you are dealing with multiple infractions of the same nature, make sure you have done your due diligence and can prove that you have taken the necessary steps to prevent this infraction from happening again. Due diligence is an exceptional defense available to licensees.

ABLE has recommended that the compliance history of the licensee, the circumstances in which the contravention occurred, and whether or not it is directly related to public safety, all be taken into consideration before a contravention notice is issued.

We are pleased that Karen Ayers and her team continue to meet with industry and endeavour to find workable solutions wherever possible.

I can be reached at aarbuthnot@ablebc.ca. [The publisher regrets that an incorrect email address was noted in the last issue.]