聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 The notion of your local Co-op selling you booze 鈥� or anything else you fancy 鈥� is hardly a political statement anymore.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sure, there鈥檚 a history here.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The old co-operative movement 鈥� whether it was the grocery and hardware store, fuel supplier or lumberyard 鈥� might have long ago been thought of as a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation or New Democrat Party enterprise along with the credit unions and former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Kids of CCF parents would even be sent to 鈥渃o-op camps鈥� to learn the ways.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 By contrast, some of those of a more free-enterprise persuasion 鈥� like Brad Wall and his father who ran a private store 鈥� were not exactly pro-Co-op.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That Wall says both he and his dad now occasionally shop at the Swift Current Co-op suggests times have changed.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Federated Co-op Ltd. in Saskatoon may still have connection to the NDP. Scott Banda, the president and CEO, is a one-time NDP leadership hopeful and son of former NDP MLA Dennis Banda. Other senior executives go back to the last NDP government as well.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But while the Wheat Pool is long gone, Federated Co-op is stronger than ever. It thrived because it has become a very big, diverse and competitive business, serving both rural and urban customers very well.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And nowhere has the Federated Co-op shown more leadership than in retail liquor, where its highly successful Blairmore neighbourhood location in Saskatoon 鈥� one of the first four private liquor store franchises in the province 鈥� has absolutely thrived.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Ironically, no one was more likely more appreciative of this than Wall, who made liquor store privatization the centrepiece of his Saskatchewan Party鈥檚聽2016 provincial election campaign.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Why this notion became so saleable to the electorate had to do with the success of this particular Saskatoon Co-op liquor store.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Co-op already has a huge foothold in private liquor sales with some 100 outlets in Western Canada (including some of the biggest, most successful private liquor stores in Alberta).
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Opening on time and providing an excellent selection and price for its spirits while still paying聽decent unionized wages to its employees, the Saskatoon Co-op鈥檚 Blairmore location was the ideal success story for the government.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And that made it very difficult for either old NDP-CCF members or the unions to complain about such a privatized success story.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So when Wall announced there would be 50 new privatized liquor store outlets 鈥� 39 government-run retail liquor converted outlets and 11 new private stores 鈥� one might have thought the Co-ops were being rewarded for their considerable contribution to Wall鈥檚 privatization age.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Well, not withstanding the government spin that they got 14 privatized outlets 鈥� compared with nine granted to Sobeys 鈥� the Co-op hierarchy says it doesn鈥檛 think it did very well at all.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e are completely shut out. And for us that is just, frankly, disappointing,鈥� Vic Huard, Federated Co-op vice-president, told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭hey (the Saskatchewan Party government) are tilting the playing field.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 While local Co-ops were successful in 14 rural town bids, those liquor stores are expected to only do about $19 million worth of annual sales 鈥� about equal to one of the Saskatoon franchises secured by Sobeys that is expected to do as much in annual sales as the 14 Co-op franchises combined.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In fact, the eight other Sobeys stores will likely generate $72 million in annual sales.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Also, Sobeys was granted liquor store franchises in Moose Jaw and Yorkton鈥� after closing their grocery operations in those cities.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And with no dollar aspect attached to the bids, it鈥檚 rather strange the Saskatchewan Party would award the plum location to a Maritime-headquartered business rather than ones centred in Saskatchewan.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Maybe there is still something to say that the old rivalries between the co-ops and other retailers still exist after all.
