LILLEY: Private liquor stores could be next for Ontario

A woman looks at the stock in an LCBO store located in Toronto. (Toronto Sun files)

Forget just being able to pick up beer and wine in your corner store, Ontario residents in the future may be able to drop down the street to private liquor stores like they already do in several other provinces.

All without giving up the LCBO.

Imagine Ontarians finally being treated like adults and leaving the prohibition era behind.

A senior PC government official said that while no decision has been made, they are open to the idea of following the lead of provinces like British Columbia where government liquor stores remain but private stores are allowed to compete.

This comes as Ken Hughes, the province’s special advisor charged with reviewing alcohol rules and regulations, made clear the LCBO is off limits.

“We’re not talking about selling the LCBO,” Hughes said during an interview last week.

That said, Hughes said his job is to look at everything from the eyes of consumers and making their lives easier.

“Choice and convenience for the consumer,” is how Hughes describes his mandate.

That means looking all aspects of the system.

“That might drive deeper organizational changes that we aren’t contemplating today,” Hughes said.

What that means remains to be seen, but private liquor stores are not ruled out.

So, will we soon see a Liquor Mart on every corner?

Not so fast, says the government source.

“First we need to deal with the Master Framework Agreement,” said the senior official.

The Master Framework Agreement is the contract signed between the former Wynne Liberal government and the Beer Store.

Despite the Beer Store being a private company mainly owned by foreign breweries, the province negotiated a contract with them under Wynne that doesn’t expire until 2025.

Under that contract, the Beer Store and its owners agreed to some changes in their business model and to spending $100 million on “improving the customer experience” and in return the province agreed to only allow grocery stores to sell six packs and singles.

The contract also capped the number of grocery stores that could sell beer at 450 across the province. Corner stores and big box stores are banned from selling beer under the agreement.

That contract is currently subject to negotiations between the Ford government and the Beer Store. While both sides have said officially they won’t talk, but rather continue with good faith negotiations, privately the Beer Store has been floating numbers to the media as high as $1 billion in penalties if the contract is broken.

Give me a break.

There is no way that this government or any government will pay out $1 billion in fines to the Beer Store; those figures are nothing short of scare tactics being used as part of a PR campaign to sway the negotiations.

Truth be told, if the Beer Store wants to make life difficult for the Ford government in fulfilling their promise for beer and wine in corner stores, the government has options to make life difficult for the Beer Store or the brewers that own it.

Let’s hope calmer heads prevail.

Once the Master Framework Agreement with the Beer Store is settled, then the province will be able to consider allowing private liquor stores.

The government is being lobbied hard from all sides on this issue including by major retail players from other parts of the country that want to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in setting up new retail operations.

Their pitch is more jobs for Ontario, more tax revenue for the government from increased sales.

Much has been made of the fact that the Ford government, headed up by a man who does not drink, is spending a lot of time on alcohol.

Let’s just say that if you have travelled the country, you know that Ontario lags most provinces in this area and the changes are long overdue.

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