By Jennifer Vardy Little
The Kings County Advertiser
Tory leader Jamie Baillie wants to have a bonfire if his party should come into power in Nova Scotia.
In it, he’d toss legislation introduced over the past couple of years by the NDP, ranging from first contract arbitration to the Liquor Control Act amendments from 2011 that made it possible for the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation to seek injunctions against businesses that allow customers to make beer and wine on store premises.
The latter issue has come up recently, with the NSLC taking court action against the New Minas Wine Kitz franchise, along with Wine Kitz Halifax and Water N’ Wine in New Glasgow.
The owners of the New Minas franchise decided not to operate the store-based fermenting service, called u-vint, and the court injunction against them was halted.
But, said Baillie, that’s not good enough.
“This is a great example of NDP regulations gone crazy,” he told The Advertiser while in Kings County Jan. 15. “The NDP picked the side of the NSLC; we’re on the side of small business. I’ll rip up the law when the Conservatives form government and ensure the u-vints can do their job – to give a real choice to consumers.”
Baillie isn’t the only member of the opposition to speak out against the u-vint case; last week, Liberal leader Stephen McNeil and Liberal finance critic Diana Whalen sent a letter to Premier Darrell Dexter, formally requesting that he act to immediately resolve the legal mess that u-vint operators are currently embroiled in with the NSLC.
“The situation with U-Vint and U-Brew operators has become absurd and is now unnecessarily before the courts,” says McNeil. “Instead of growing their businesses and serving their clients, these small business owners are forced to focus on fighting an absolutely senseless law.”
McNeil says his caucus would gladly support Premier Dexter if he chose to stand down and allow u-vint facilities to continue to operate.
“Unfortunately, you can’t legislate common sense – but in this case, the premier has the authority to rein in the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. and put a stop to what is quickly becoming a needless headache for this government.”
