Today was when producers and retailers of beer, wine, and spirits were hoping to find out how much a bottle of booze would cost in B.C. government liquor stores on April 1.

But according to an NDP MLA and a private liquor-store representative, this information is only going to be made available to hospitality customers—such as pubs and restaurants—and not to everyone else in the industry.

David Eby, the NDP liquor-policy critic, told the Straight by phone that the government is trying to keep its retail prices secret.

"It's clear that they're embarrassed by the new retail prices," Eby alleged. "It contradicts the attorney general's message that prices aren't going up. Otherwise, they would release the prices."

Attorney General Suzanne Anton is responsible for liquor policy and was unavailable for comment as of this writing.

Earlier this month, Anton told the Straight that private store owners want to know what government stores will charge because "every retailer looks over the other retailer's shoulder to see what price they using".

Eby noted that the government had previously indicated that its retail prices would be publicized by today.

"If prices were going down, there would be a B.C. Liberal parade up the middle of Broadway today," he said jokingly. "Instead, the prices are secret and the government has reneged on its promise to release the prices publicly."

The government's failure to release prices was also noted in tweets by Straight wine columnist Kurtis Kolt and Vancouver lawyer Mark Hickin, who closely tracks the cost of wine.

One of Hicken's tweets cheekily stated: "Called local car dealer to ask price of new car, apparently it's a secret, they told me to call manufacturer...think #bcliquor".

Wineries contacted by the Straight also said they don't know how much their products will cost in government stores on April 1.

In a March 19 bulletin to its members, the Alliance of Beverage Licensees of B.C., aka ABLE B.C., revealed that it had been told that the LDB will not release prices despite repeated announcements that this was coming today.

ABLE B.C.'s executive director, Jeff Guignard, told the Straight by phone that it's "frustrating" to his members, given that government retail prices are "pretty integral to the private liquor industry's business model".

"It's only going to be on the vendor website so pubs and restaurants who are trying to purchase these particular products are only going to be able to see [them]," he said.

In the past, Guignard added, the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch released its prices on a PDF in a monthly product guide. He said that in the future, it won't be available and licensed retail store owners will have to go the website and find out prices of particular products.

"A lot of our guys benchmark their prices off of government stores, so we're going to get that information and we'll be producing it for our members every month, which is an inconvenience," he stated. "If they [LDB] won't do it, we obviously have to stand up for our members."

At the same time, Guignard emphasized that he didn't want to ascribe any negative intent on the part of the government about the pricing issues.

"I really do believe they're trying to move quickly and there's balls being dropped along the way," he said.

Later in the interview, Guignard said that the LDB is in a "weird spot where they're both our wholesaler and our competitor".

"They're acting more like our competitor right now in trying to keep this [retail-pricing] information confidential," he said. "They view it as confidential. I view it as essential industry information. That's our disagreement right now."