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Two items are regular staples during Stampede week: beer and the two-step.

The provincial government managed to do a little dance of its own this week on the booze front.

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Finance Minister Joe Ceci announced the province will direct the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission to set the markup on all beer to $1.25 per litre, regardless of where the brew is produced.

In the next few weeks, it will provide grants to small Alberta-based brewers to help promote the sector’s expansion.

It’s a little do-si-do for an industry that’s seen a few big steps in the past year and it could lead to another fight with out-of-province breweries.

Just last fall, the NDP government raised the taxes on imported beer brewed outside Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

Previously, the markup on beer from operators based outside Western Canada (members of the New West Partnership) was as little as 20 cents a litre, based on their production volumes.