The Kamloops North Thompson MLA is relieved the BC government is not going to take action that may have threatened the survival of the Pinantan General store and 14 others in the province.
Peter Milobar says under current legislation the stores can sell booze to restaurants and bars with the province pre-approving a list of customers.
Milobar says the government was going to change that law but has since backtracked ensuring the rural stores won’t be impacted.
“It is one thing to change some of the regulations and that’s what the government is doing. They are well within their rights to do that. Only finding customers that are closer to your rural store than the permanent government liquor store. However you should not be taking away and revoking approvals that are currently in place under those existing rules when the retailers have done absolutely nothing wrong.”
Milobar says the reason for the potential change was the suspicion those stores were drawing customers away from government liquor stores.