Ontario continues to accelerate alcohol expansion in light of LCBO strike

Article content

By: The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is scrambling to get ready-to-drink cocktails on grocery store shelves amid a strike at the province’s largest liquor retailer focused on that very issue.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy announced on Monday that grocery stores that already have a license to sell beer and wine will be able to order the premixed cocktails and bulk packs of beer starting Thursday – earlier than the planned August 1 date that would initiate this step.

Article content

“Our government is keeping its promise to provide choice and convenience to the people of Ontario while supporting Ontario-based beverage manufacturers across the province, including Ontario companies that produce more than 80 per cent of the ready-to-drink beverages sold here in our province,” Bethlenfalvy wrote in a statement.

The accelerated move is part of an already-advanced plan to expand alcohol sales in the province. Ford’s previous plan was to make beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails available in convenience stores and all grocery stores by 2026, but in May he announced that would happen later this year instead.

The leadership of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, whose approximately 10,000 employees at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario walked off the job on July 5, said the labour dispute was not about wages but rather about the expansion of the sale of ready-to-drink cocktails.

Previous rounds of expansion in Ontario’s alcohol market have left liquor sales in the hands of the LCBO, and OPSEU fears that an exit during this crisis would put the LCBO and union jobs at risk.

Article content

Article content

Making ready-to-drink beverages available even earlier in grocery stores would be an attempt to undercut the LCBO and would amount to interference in the negotiations, said OPSEU President JP Hornick.

“Ford is clearly trying to make good on a promise he made to potential corporate donors in the convenience and food industries during the election,” Hornick wrote in a statement. “Doug Ford should stop playing politics with our members’ lives and taxpayers’ money.”

Ford has denied that he is trying to dissolve or privatize the LCBO, and government officials have pointed out that the LCBO’s revenues have increased with previous rounds of expanding alcohol sales.

Bethlenfalvy has directed the Crown corporation to showcase and promote Ontario beer, wine, spirits and cider as part of the expansion and has said the company will continue to play an important role as a wholesaler.

Last week, Ford firmly ruled out reversing the expansion of the ready-to-drink range, saying the ship was “halfway across Lake Ontario.”

The province’s 450 grocery stores that already have a license to sell beer, wine and cider will be able to place orders for the coolers and bottled water starting Thursday and sell the drinks as soon as they receive them. They will also be able to sell larger packs of beer, such as cases of 24 bottles.

Article content

As part of the expansion of beer and wine sales to grocery stores, the former Liberal government signed an agreement with The Beer Store in 2015 that gave the company exclusive rights to sell 12- and 24-packs of beer.

The program was supposed to expire at the end of 2025, but Ford’s accelerated plan includes an “early implementation agreement” with The Beer Store, under which the province will pay the company up to $225 million to keep its stores open and its employees employed. The province will also give the breweries a rebate on an LCBO fee that normally generates $45 million a year and retailers a 10 per cent wholesale discount.

Under Ford’s plan, convenience stores will be allowed to sell beer, wine and soft drinks starting September 5, while newly licensed grocery stores will be able to do so starting October 31.

Article content