Finance committee  Thank you very much. I'm here from Alberta, which apparently is the only province that has a system that is different from the rest of Canada. With that in mind, I'll let you know that the Alberta Liquor Store Association, or ALSA for short, represents 1,200 private liquor retai

Finance committee  I'm sorry. On the trade issue?

Finance committee  Again, I'm not aware of any issue. In the 1980s case, Canada actually lost the EU case, and we feel this would add to it and possibly cause other challenges to come forward.

Finance committee  I don't believe there are.

Finance committee  That's right.

Finance committee  In terms of increased sales?

Finance committee  The only part that was privatized was the retail side of it.

Finance committee  The liquor still was regulated.

Finance committee  Absolutely. There used to be 230 stores, I believe, in Alberta before privatization. Right now we have 1,200 stores out there.

Finance committee  And a lot of access in Canada to alcohol from all over the world.

Finance committee  That is the issue at hand. If people do that, basically they would bypass the liquor store owners, who would lose the sales and therefore would lose the profit margin. A lot of the stores we represent are mom-and-pop shops, where their margins are quite small. Therefore, if I as

Finance committee  That happens right now.

Finance committee  Just to clarify, the wine, as stated in Bill C-311, is for personal use only—

Finance committee  If you go through a store, it would be commercial use, so therefore it would be illegal.

Finance committee  That's right, and that's already happening in Alberta, so therefore Bill C-311 is not—