With the consumption of alcohol on a steady decline, the province’s state-run liquor retailer is making an aggressive attempt to make sure sales don’t dip. Public health experts question whether it's going too far.
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Jacques Farcy, the SAQ's president and CEO, at an outlet last year. Farcy says he wants those 'who choose to consume beverage alcohol to buy it from us.
' In Quebec, you can now pick up a bottle of gin with your bulk toilet paper at Costco or Maxi, get wine delivered to your door in minutes via Uber Eats and soon get targeted texts about the latest deals on booze. With the consumption of alcohol on a steady decline, the province’s state-run liquor retailer is making an aggressive attempt to make sure sales don’t dip.
has raised concern among public health experts, who worry the agency is prioritizing sales over social responsibility.
“What we have been seeing for the last months and last years is that are really more and more strategies put in place to be able to sell, which in turn can have major impacts on health and on overall costs for our society as well,” said Kim Brière-Charest, a researcher with the Quebec Public Health Association. The SAQ remains a significant source of revenue for the Quebec government, generating $1.4 billion for the province in 2024-25 — and the head of the Crown corporation wants to keep it that way.
At the same time, people’s thirst for alcohol is down. Quebecers are following the national trend of drinking less, with the province seeing a 3.6 per cent drop in total volume sold last year. , the Crown corporation outlined a strategy to “roll up our sleeves and take action. ” “Quebecers are drinking less and, above all, differently.
For the first time in years, the SAQ is seeing its volume sales decline. But this isn’t the end. It’s a new beginning,” Jacques Farcy, SAQ’s president and CEO, says in the document’s introduction.
In addition to the new partnership with Uber Eats, the SAQ is expanding the number of “SAQ Zones” in grocery stores, convenience stores and a Costco in Montreal. The SAQ also wants to use more personalized text messages and push notifications to drive sales, according to its plan.
“We’re not trying to encourage alcohol consumption — on the contrary, we welcome its decline. What we do want, however, is for those who choose to consume beverage alcohol to buy it from us,” Farcy said in the plan. A report earlier this year argued that the SAQ risks “counteracting the positive effects on public health associated with public companies” by leaning on private businesses.
IRIS said publicly operated SAQs are more likely to ensure “better control over the sale of alcohol, a psychoactive substance whose consumption is linked to various health and safety problems ”, took aim at the Uber Eats partnership in particular, for favouring the “American economy at the expense of Quebec’s. ” It also argued that the sale and delivery of alcohol comes with clear and regulated responsibilities, including checking age requirements and assessing buyers’ level of intoxication.
Should the SAQ partner with Uber for new home delivery service? Starting next month, if you live on the Island of Montreal, you will be able to have some SAQ products delivered right to your door. But some Quebec companies are not happy with the SAQ's decision to partner with US-based UberEats for deliveries. That's story's coming up next with Dardan Isufi, chief operating officer and a co-founder of Eva.
In a statement in response to these criticisms, SAQ spokesperson Laurianne Tardif said the Crown corporation's mandate is to "sell alcohol responsibly, and to generate dividends that contribute to the government’s ability to fund public missions.
" "Our initiatives are not intended to increase alcohol consumption, nor to normalize or promote spirits in everyday retail settings," Tardif said. "They reflect changing consumer expectations about where and how legal products are accessed, while ensuring that alcohol remains subject to strict oversight, limits and accountability. "designed to test different retail spaces in a "highly controlled manner," including at one Costco in Montreal. She said the partnership with Uber Eats would also be reviewed after a test period.
Still, public health experts question the SAQ's approach when studies suggest alcohol has by far the highest economic impact of any drug. In Canada, alcohol-related harms — including those related to health care, lost productivity and the criminal justice system — cost the country $19.7 billion in 2020, followed by tobacco at $11.2 billion, according to theBy comparison, cannabis, which is subjected to far more stringent retail regulations in Quebec, was much lower down the list at $2.4 billion, Brière-Charest pointed out.
Quebec's cannabis agency , which has just over 100 stores across the province, has a limited selection of products and does not promote or advertise. The SAQ, by comparison, has more than 400 locations — and another 400 points of sale.
“With cannabis, we have our very least recent legal frame that actually ensures a protection of health, which we don't have with alcohol,” Brière-Charest said. “What we are wondering is: Why can't we integrate some of the knowledge … for the substance that actually is the more costly health-wise and socially? ”Benjamin Shingler is a reporter based in Montreal covering social issues and Quebec politics.
He previously worked at The Canadian Press and the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, and is an alumnus of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network. He can be reached at benjamin.shingler@cbc.ca.
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