Owner of Savary Island General Store and Trading Company, and Rigger’s Pub Bruce Brown, first applied for an RAS (rural agency store) licence to sell alcohol in his general store approximately 20 years ago. After five attempts, several made with the help of a lawyer, he met with rejection time after time.
At long last a round of changes made to BC liquor board regulations seemed to sound the cavalry trumpets. But it was not to be. The application was still refused, this time on grounds that the proposed location was fewer than 10 kilometres from the nearest rural agency store.
Blaine Lawson, general manager of the Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB), in his written response, reasoned that despite the fact the guidelines are in fact not clear on how the distance requirement applies to water-bound locations, it is the agency’s practice to apply the 10-kilometre rule to water-bound locales “as the crow flies.”
Al Radke, Powell River Regional District chief administrative officer, wrote that, in his opinion, to apply the liquor board ruling “as the crow flies” was arbitrary and invalid due to the use of discretion. He rightly asserted that discretion has no place in policy. Policy, as it applies to government and governmental institutions, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “a high-level overall plan embracing the general goals and acceptable procedures.” The very nature of policy is to avoid contradiction and confusion in applying said laws and regulations that apply to everyone in every circumstance. Alternately, a definition for “regulation” is as follows: “a rule or order issued by an executive authority or regulatory agency of a government and having the force of law.” Suggesting that it was the agency’s “practice” to apply any rule in any circumstance implies officials haven’t got it quite right yet.
The idiom “as the crow flies” applies to travelling in a direct line, without any detours caused by traversing a road. It seems one can’t escape the logic that somehow roads will factor into the calculation of the liquor board’s rule of law (the 10-kilometre rule), which, as stated, in the case of the distance between Lund and Savary Island, does not apply. Yet the LDB applies it.
Policy by its very nature is intended to remove grey area and uncertainty. Applying policy rules and regulations based upon one’s discretion exposes one to error and critical questioning. Specifically with regard to the issue as it applies to the Savary Island store, the use of discretion creates a grey area that leaves the final decision open to interpretation. One should be able to look at the rulebook and understand which regulations were applied.
