Hartland store owner loses legal case against N.B. Liquor
‘Absolutely no evidence’ of political influence in awarding of agency store contract, judge says
A Hartland business owner has lost his case that alleged N.B. Liquor took away his lucrative agency store contract because of political influence.
Peter Cook's claims that the decision was linked to former premier Blaine Higgs's career at Irving Oil were "utterly bereft of merit," Court of King's Bench Justice Terrence Morrison wrote in a Nov. 6 decision.
"There is absolutely no evidence to support Freshmart's allegations of political influence," Morrison wrote.
"Leaving aside the fact that much of Mr. Cook's evidence on the point is inadmissible hearsay, the allegation is nothing more than a conspiracy theory based on suspicion and speculation."
In his application for judicial review, Cook, a well-known Liberal and the owner of the Freshmart grocery store, also questioned the way N.B. Liquor assessed the two bids, including the visibility and accessibility of the two locations.
Cook's store is in downtown Hartland, facing the community's iconic covered bridge. The Valu Foods store is a kilometre away, closer to Route 130, the former Trans-Canada Highway.
He alleged that the contract with his Freshmart grocery store wasn't renewed in 2021, and was then awarded to another store attached to a gas station, because Higgs had worked at Irving Oil and because his friend John Correia was the chair of N.B. Liquor.
He also claimed there was a "trend" of agency store contracts going to Irving gas stations and noted that the outlet and the attached Hartland Valu Foods store was owned by a Progressive Conservative party supporter.
Morrison wrote in his ruling that it was not up to the court to compare and evaluate the two proposals, only to determine whether N.B. Liquor's decision was reasonable.
"The court is not entitled to second guess the decision maker about the process of evaluation or the weight that should be given to the various factors, or to substitute its opinion with regard to the points to be awarded for each criteria," he wrote.
"The question is, did the proponents know what they were required to bid on and how the proposals were scored? In my view, they did. The decision is internally coherent, rational and transparent. It meets the standard of reasonableness."
Cook said Thursday he didn't want to do an interview about the decision.
"I'd rather just forget it," he said, adding that he hadn't decided whether to appeal and would speak to his lawyer next week.
Store owner spent $800K on renovations
Cook bought the Courtyard Convenience Store in Hartland in 2019, taking over its liquor agency store, and later spent $800,000 renovating, at N.B. Liquor's suggestion, his adjacent Fresh Mart grocery store to accommodate the agency products.
In his application, he said he expected the contract would be renewed when it expired in 2021, as had happened since Courtyard Convenience first won the agency store in 1996.
Instead, N.B. Liquor issued a new request for proposals.
Lawyers for N.B. Liquor and for Hartland Valu Foods argued in court that Cook had no reason to assume a contract ending in 2021 would automatically be renewed.
They also argued Cook lost points in the bidding process for legitimate reasons: Cook's Freshmart store charged a higher commission than the Valu Foods store planned to, and he had shorter opening hours.
Cook is a prominent Liberal supporter who is related by marriage to former Liberal MLAs Fred Harvey and Andrew Harvey.
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There's no way I'd swallow his supposedly $800,000 renovation project as being necessary just to sell some booze, beer and wine.
The judge was correct in basing his ruling on "only to determine whether N.B. Liquor's decision was reasonable."
Case closed.