this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
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I'm so divided on this one. On one hand, I'm not a fan of the puritanic tendencies prevalent in ON that limit alcohol sales. On the other I don't find the current regime onerous. From my perspective I haven't found it difficult to acquire alcohol when desired. The variety is high and the quality of the stores and service is great. People working in those stores are paid well too and it shows positively. Perhaps the situation with access is a bit different in smaller places across Ontario with fewer LCBO/Beer Store locations. And then there's the emergent consensus that alcohol is more harmful to public health than thought in the past. I guess I'll open a can of beer while mulling over this conundrum.
LCBO stores aren't closing anytime soon. You just now have 1 more choice. How come having another option is seen as bad?
In this case it's directing profits away from us (a government owned business) and towards private companies.
The typical conservative playbook will be to erode any advantages the LCBO has over the next 15-20 years, over time LCBO will struggle to compete because they pay their staff better, it's more expensive to provide the wide range of selection they have now. They'll need to cut back on the things that we love about the LCBO, stores will close because they can't justify so many stores when customers have been cut in half.
Then at some point the province will sell them to a private company. And that will be that.
Actually, the agreement is with The Beer Store, a private enterprise that is mostly 2 global super-breweries. The current agreement prevents the LCBO from selling 24s of your beer so that Molson-Coors, AB InBev and Sapporo corner that format in the market. Removing the agreement allows the LCBO to carry large format, and possibly directing more shopping to a government owned outlet.