B.C. Liquor sales of cold beer, wine not fair to small business

North Vancouver - Dear Editor: It is my understanding that (the Liquor Distribution Branch's) wholesale prices are equal to or higher than before the recent change (to B.C. liquor laws). This means that government stores will lose money on operations due to their high salary and wage costs. So we have a government that regulates an industry and then both owns the wholesale company and 50 per cent of the retail stores in this industry. By allowing government stores to open longer hours and sell cold beer and wine they are competing with the stores their wholesaler sells to. Not many businesses survive with this model.Are they now trying to drive the private stores out of business? How can you regulate an industry and also participate in it. A conflict you would ask? Compare this to the taxiindustry where regulation has elevated the cost of a taxi licence to a million dollars. Without regulation they would be worthless. The liquor business was the same before these changes. Is this fair to the small business man who paid millions for a liquor licence to then find out his supplier is now competing with him directly and putting him out of business? Robert Matthews North Vancouver