It all started in late 2015 when overnight, the Alberta government raised the beer tax on out-of-province beers by up to 166 per cent.

Two Canadian brewers, one based in Saskatoon and the other in Toronto, took the Alberta government to court, arguing that the tax hike amounted to an interprovincial barrier to free trade which was a violation of the constitution.

After three years of legal wrangling, a court ruled in favour of Great Western Brewing and Steam Whistle Brewing, awarding $2M total in restitution to the two companies.

Consequently, Alberta taxpayers are on the hook to two out-of-province companies because the NDP thought they could do things that were not allowed.

But instead of cutting their losses, the NDP continue to drag these two private companies back to court to appeal the restitution order.

My guest tonight suspects the NDP don't want to be associated with the bad optics of a two million dollar payout and a court loss on the eve of an election. And she should know, since she fought the same battle against the unconstitutional tax hike, only she did it before a trade tribunal — and she won.

Joining me tonight to discuss the Notley NDP’s latest attack on private enterprise is Bo Vitanov of Calgary's Artisan Ales.

Almost immediately after taking office, they enacted protectionist policies against beer imports and simultaneously started subsidizing Alberta microbrewers every single month with grants.

It was a poorly thought-out plan to bolster Alberta's small brewing industry that picked winners and losers and brought unintended consequences as importers were then burdened with trying to sell a much more expensive product into a market proliferated with government subsidized beers.

The protectionist policies and beer tax hikes spawned trade disputes between provinces and legal challenges pitting Alberta small businesses against the government.

Trade tribunal after trade tribunal ruled against the government but they persisted with frivolous appeals that kept importers embroiled in expensive legal battles in order to exhaust their resources.

But now, those small businesses have utterly defeated the government, forcing them to repeal their taxes and tariffs, bringing them back to 2015 levels before the government tried to “fix” what was never broken.

And a six pack of beer is about to get a whole lot cheaper in Alberta in 2019.

Joining me tonight to tell her side of the story about how she fought the government behemoth and won, is Bo Vitanov from Artisan Ales.