Beer and wine in more stores starting this summer: Fedeli
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Ontarians will be able to buy beer and wine at 300 more grocery and LCBO agency stores, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli says.
Many of the additional 87 grocery stores should be in a position to sell alcohol by this September, while the newly-branded LCBO Convenience Outlets will open in about 200 underserved communities by the end of the year, he said.
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“By opening up more alcohol retail outlets across the province, we are not only making life easier for people, we are enabling economic opportunities for hundreds of new businesses,” Fedeli said Thursday.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make meaningful change in the way alcohol is sold, purchased and consumed across Ontario.”
The announcement came shortly after the Doug Ford government passed a controversial bill that would break the province’s deal with The Beer Store, despite warnings from business and legal representatives both in Ontario and the United States that its action risked undermining investor confidence and the rule of law.
Fedeli said the government’s goal remains to bring alcohol sales to corner stores, big box outlets and grocery stores.
While the Bringing Choice and Fairness to the People Act received third and final reading, it was not immediately proclaimed into law, and both sides in the dispute say they’re prepared to continue negotiations.
“The Beer Store believes that there is a mutually acceptable path to significantly accelerating the introduction of new retail locations for beer in Ontario while minimizing consumer beer price increases, minimizing incremental beer industry costs and retaining as much government tax revenue as possible,” a statement from The Beer Store said.
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“Most importantly, these amendments would avoid a protracted legal battle and the significant damages to which the government would be exposed.”
Fedeli said the ten-year deal signed by the previous Kathleen Wynne government and The Beer Store gave the foreign-owned group a “near monopoly” on suds sales in Ontario.
His legislation, if enacted, would mandate that the contract be broken without penalty to Ontario taxpayers.
Karl Littler, a senior vice president with the Retail Council of Canada, whose members include big box and grocery stores, said the two sides will likely come to a negotiated settlement but the legislation gives the government greater bargaining power.
Businesses entering a market understand that the law can change, he said.
“You start to question what the point of government would be if you’re stuck with everything that your predecessors had agreed to,” Littler said.
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