MEDIA RELEASE: 23 April 2018 – R00085

Brock University Professor Dan Malleck is a leading researcher on the history of government control over liquor sales in Canada. (He is the author of Try to Control Yourself: The regulation of public drinking in post-prohibition Ontario, 1927-1944.)

He is available to comment to the media on the context of last week’s Supreme Court of Canada decision to uphold a fine against a man who bought beer in Quebec then took it back to his New Brunswick home.

In deciding there is no constitutional guarantee of interprovincial free trade, Malleck says the SCOC ruling is consistent with most legal decisions regarding the authority of provinces over alcohol sales, and adds, “this same sentiment is likely at the heart of the decision by the federal government to give the provinces the right to manage the sale of cannabis as they see fit.”

“In many ways, the issue of liquor sales and licensing was a fundamental factor in shaping the federal state. The contentious issue in this trial was whether it was proper for a Lower court to rule that the 1867 Constitution requirement that goods move freely across provincial borders meant any restriction on movement of goods was unconstitutional. That decision was based upon one historian’s interpretation of the act.

“However … any constitutional historian who looks at the rulings in the first half century after Confederation could tell you, the intention of the framers of the Constitution was not maintained by the courts. Over several decades the ideal of a strong central government was replaced with an emphasis upon a federal system where provinces had increased authority to make laws in the interest of their populations.”

For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

* Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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