Experts’ report recommends the abolition of the monopoly

“[the monopoly] is a vestige from the 1920s. […] a privatisation would not only benefit the consumers but it would also allow the government to increase its revenues from this sector. […]No reason exists to preserve this paternalistic attitude on the part of public authorities who seek to dictate lifestyles and to tell consumers which beverages they have the right to drink.”

These are the conclusions of a report written by a Canadian think tank called the Montreal Economic Institute. The full report is available here from MEI. It contains some interesting comparisons with the province Alberta, that previously also had a monopoly but which was abolished in 1994.

Some examples:

• Better availability: The number of stores has risen since the privatisation in Alberta from 310 monopoly stores to 1087 stores today. That gives 42 stores per 100,000 inhabitants compared to the monopoly province Québec where they have 13 stores per 100,000 people. This leads to time savings and more convenience for the consumers.
• More jobs: During the first three years after privatisation in Alberta the number of jobs in the sector rose from 950 to 2904, i.e. almost 2000 new jobs.
• “The range of available products will be smaller”: In privatised Alberta there are 11,575 products available compared to the monopoly market in Québec with 7,148 products. The comparison is even more dramatic if you look at the evolution of the number of products in Alberta since privatisation. In 1993 the Alberta monopoly offered 1,957 products and now, in the private stores, there are around 12,000. The same evolution in Québec would give the Québecoise a choice from almost 44,000 products…
• “Privatisation would lead to many more alcohol problems”: In Alberta the alcohol consumption is on approximately the same level as it was when the system was change. They had a slight increase in the year following privatisation but that was followed by a decrease in the following years. In monopoly controlled Québec the consumption has gone up by 15% over the same period.

What do you think? Comment on this in the blog.