MP goes to bat for distillers over sanitizer fiasco

The member of parliament for the North Okanagan-Shuswap is going to bat for distillers that jumped into help produce hand sanitizer at the start of COVID-19 pandemic.

The provincial and federal governments made assurances that companies would have the cost of bottles and labels covered if they helped out, but that hasn’t happened, and instead multimillion dollar contracts were given to foreign companies and multi-national giants like Irving Oil. Dun and Bradstreet reports Irving Oil had revenues last fiscal year of $2.06 billion.

“It is unacceptable for the federal government to deliberately choose not to support Canadian small businesses, especially ones like our local distillers that stepped up to support their communities and country during this crisis. MP Mel Arnold, North Okanagan-Shuswap, told Vernon Matters.

Vernon-based Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillers was one of the first to convert production from spirits to sanitizer and donating over $500,000 worth of product to essential workers, many working for government-funded organizations.