British Columbia's liquor laws were overhauled by the former Liberal government, generating innumerable merry announcements – stretched out over many months –about convenient, common-sense and consumer-friendly changes to the province's archaic booze regulations.

The populist measures included Sunday opening of government liquor stores and "happy hour" sales in bars. One of the splashiest reforms promised consumers would finally be able to grab a bottle of wine off the shelf with their groceries – all the while helping grow B.C.'s wine sector, because only B.C. wine would be allowed on grocery shelves. Justice Minister Suzanne Anton called the announcement "a very exciting moment in B.C. history."

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