Winnipeg has earned a new nickname that won’t be used in marketing campaigns any time soon — the “Binge Drinking Capital of Canada.”

Critics are blaming the province’s discount beer industry for promoting overconsumption and are calling for minimum prices to curb excessive drinking.

Minhas Creek Brewing Co. is widely credited with creating the discount beer segment more than three years ago, when it launched six-pack cans of Minhas Creek Lager for $3 less than the competition. Labatt and Molson quickly followed suit, matching prices on Labatt Lucky and Molson Dry.

Greg D’Avignon, president of Canada’s National Brewers, Western Region, points out that Manitoba is one of two provinces — Alberta is the other — that doesn’t have a minimum retail price, also called a “social reference price,” for beer, wine and spirits. He says the availability of beer for slightly more than $1 per can encourages primarily young party-goers to load up on cheap suds before heading out for the evening. He calls the corporate strategy “irresponsible opportunism.” The practice “encourages binge drinking and misuse of alcohol, particularly with people who already have addiction issues,” he says. “We don’t have some of the same problems in other provinces because of the social reference price.”

John Borody, CEO of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, is leading the charge for minimum liquor prices in the province. He says recent studies have found that binge drinking in Manitoba — defined as single sessions in which five or more beverages are consumed — is above the national average. He says it doesn’t make sense for the province to have imposed a minimum drink price of $2.25 at bars and nightclubs several years ago and not follow the same logic at the retail level: “People do loading before they go to the bar with the cheapest beer. We’ve heard of substantial numbers of empties being found around local bars and in the parking lots.”

Diana Soroka, communications manager with the Manitoba Liquor Control Board, says that while the MLCB empathizes with AFM, there are no plans to impose a floor for beer prices. She says it has dealt with the issue before: 20 years ago, it bowed to critics who complained that low-priced sherry was being widely consumed. But imposing higher prices only created a new problem, as abusers switched to mouthwash, hairspray and nail polish remover to get their buzz. “We’ve been down this road before,” she says. “We believe putting a minimum price on beer is going to create more problems for us down the road.”

Instead, Soroka notes that the MLCB is working with local police and downtown agencies to educate people about the dangers of overconsumption. “Research from around the world shows 18- to- 25-year-olds are the biggest risk-takers in society,” she says. “They drive fast, they go bungee jumping and they’re the ones who will likely engage in binge drinking.”

The woman at the eye of the storm, Manjit Minhas, president of Minhas Creek, says market forces should dictate the price of beer — and every other consumer item, for that matter. “Why should the government set the price I sell beer at?” she says. “You should let the competition duke it out for the consumers’ dollars. Competition encourages superior products, better marketing and better overall running of companies. It makes us have to work for selling you a beer.”

Minhas, whose company brews its beer in Wisconsin, says she’s in Manitoba for the long haul, even if minimum prices are imposed in the future. “We would live with it and try to find other ways to give value to the consumer,” she says. “There’s no way we’d give up. If prices were to go up by 50¢ a six-pack, I wouldn’t be too scared. We’d still be at the bottom of the price scale.” IE