In February 2012, the website "Canadian Beer News" reported that The Beer Store has made thousands of dollars worth of political donations to the British Columbia Liberal Party and British Columbia New Democratic Party. The report noted that it was odd for an Ontario-based company to be making such large donations to political parties in another province, and suggested that the co-owning breweries were funnelling this money through The Beer Store in an attempt to put pressure on the BC government to give their brands favourable placements in BC Liquor stores.