The cabinet minister who oversees Alberta’s liquor industry has asserted that he will not introduce minimum prices for alcohol on store shelves, though he has refrained from indicating what other alterations might be in the pipeline.

“We have no intention of intervening in any way between the retailer and the consumer. We’re not going to be putting in place any minimum pricing,” stated the Minister of Service Alberta, Dale Nally, to the media on Tuesday at the legislature.

“This is all about social responsibility, and the people of Alberta have made their position very clear.

“I am not in a position to make predictions as to what might happen in the future.”

Nally’s comments were made the day after he criticized four-litre plastic vodka jugs priced at $49.95, which were on sale in Edmonton.

Nally stated his belief that selling vodka at such a price was inappropriate. He further noted that if a currently proposed bill is passed, it would give him the explicit power to regulate liquor prices and scrutinize the system to ensure pricing which promotes responsible consumption.

His comments were a response to social media images that were widely shared over the weekend, depicting large vodka jugs produced by a local Edmonton business, T-Rex Distillery. These jugs were produced exclusively for sale at Super Value Liquor stores.

In defense, Super Value claimed that they had reduced the price of the jugs from $60 to better cater to customers who wanted to purchase in bulk and save money.

Following Nally’s voicing of his apprehensions on Monday and his discussion on possible interference, T-Rex made the announcement that despite the varied response to the jugs, production would be ceased.

Sunny Bhullar, co-owner of Super Value Liquor, relayed to The Canadian Press on Tuesday that the jugs’ special sale price would be discontinued by the end of the day.

“Even though we continue to have stock, we’re going to halt the discounted price given the viewpoint of the minister,” Bhullar shared.

As per present regulations, the supervising territorial agency, in this case known as Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis or AGLC, dictates the wholesale price retailers must shell out for merchandise.

T-Rex, however, said the agency doesn’t provide rules or guidelines on how a product should be priced on the shelves.

“Albertan craft distilleries have suffered from a lack of responsible pricing for a while now and, in fact, there are multiple distilleries out there that are selling their spirits even cheaper than T-Rex,” the company said in a statement.

The distillery also criticized AGLC for removing a rule a few years ago that required distilleries produce at least 80 per cent of their products in-house.

T-Rex said the removal of the rule forced them, and others, to lower prices to stay in business.

On Tuesday, Nally committed to keeping the status quo.

“That 80/20 rule was reduced as a red-tape initiative to help small business and to spur investment, and I would suggest that it worked. So we’re not looking at changing that,” he said.