Moosehead Chief Financial Officer Patrick Oland testifying as a Crown witness at the trial of Gerard Comeau, a retiree charged for crossing from Quebec into New Brunswick with 14 cases of beer and three bottles of liquor back in 2012.
Oland tells us they are not against New Brunswickers crossing the border to buy beer in other jurisdictions for their personal use, their concern is bootlegging and says it’s their belief that it is fairly widespread today with beer coming in from Quebec. He says they fear if the borders are opened wide without addressing the tax imbalance and pricing imbalance that it will flourish even more.
Oland tells us he was asked by the Crown to be a witness in order to speak about different liquor regulatory arrangements across the country.
He states that their interest in the case is simply to make sure their beer is sold in a socially responsible way.
