Hartland store loses agency-store challenge
NB Liquor move to award contract to Freshmart’s competitor procedurally fair, says judge
A Hartland business that lost the NB Liquor agency-store contract for the community to a new competitor in 2021 was treated fairly in the selection process, a judge ruled earlier this month.
Peter Cook, owner of Freshmart in Hartland, filed an application in the Court of King’s Bench in Fredericton in 2021 for a judicial review of the liquor corporation’s March 2021 decision to award the lucrative contract to Hartland Valu Foods Inc.
Freshmart purchased Courtyard Convenience, the previous holder of the contract in the community, in 2019, and Cook expected it would be renewed at the end of its term in March 2021.