IQALUIT
Finance Minister Keither Peterson shot down hopes last week that a beer and wine store would open in Iqaluit this year.

There won't be a beer and wine store in the Iqaluit liquor warehouse this year, said Finance Minister Keith Peterson last week. He called it a sensitive issue for the city. - NNSL file photo

"A beer and wine store pilot project is a bit of a sensitive issue for the city of Iqaluit and I appreciate that," said Peterson in the legislative assembly Oct. 28, responding to a question about the store's status from Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA George Hickes.

"I think 40 per cent of the eligible voters came out and voted. Seventy-five per cent of them voted in favour of a beer and wine store and I believe they spoke for everybody in the community. Our government recognizes and respects the decision of the voters."

Peterson said before the government will proceed, it wants to work with fellow departments to give them time to put programs and policies in place under the Sivumut Abluqta mandate.

"Also, the timing of the plebiscite would not have allowed us to open a store in Iqaluit this year anyway," he said.

Cabinet approved new Iqaluit beer and wine store regulations under the territorial Liquor Act earlier this year. The regulations were registered in June.

They state a beer and wine store will allow customers to purchase and immediately take home beer and wine. The store would be designated as a liquor store. It can be open from noon until 7 p.m. any day except for holidays.

Adults would have to apply to the finance minister for an account to purchase products from the store. The limit per day would be 12 cans or bottles of beer up to 500 ml per can or bottle, and two bottles of wine up to one litre each.

In a 2012 report, the Nunavut Liquor Act Review Task Force cited Greenland's experience of how restricting hard liquor in favour of liberalizing the availability of beer and wine resulted in a reduction in serious crime.