LILLEY: LCBO strike puts privatization on agenda

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Unionized liquor store workers say they are striking to save their jobs. They may end up losing them instead. The world has changed for alcohol retailing in Ontario and the LCBO, and its striking workers don’t seem to realize that.

“Tonight, Ford’s dry summer begins,” Colleen MacLeod, chair of the union’s bargaining team, said on Thursday ahead of the strike.

MacLeod said that if Ontario residents can’t get the alcohol they want this summer, it will be because of Premier Doug Ford. Actually, because of several moves Ford made over the last several years, residents of the province will still mostly be able to get the drinks they want despite the strike.

Since the depths of the pandemic, any restaurant or bar that sells alcohol has been able to sell alcohol to go. That means every restaurant or bar in the province can act as a de facto liquor store.

While in most instances these outlets charge more, there will likely be some enterprising operators who take advantage of the strike to sell booze at a reasonable price from their locations.

There are also craft distillers, craft brewers and wineries across the province that can sell their products from their own production facilities. The province will even be promoting locations where residents will be able to find alcohol to purchase from The Beer Store to local Wine Rack locations, local producers to pop-up bottle shops.

This will not be the dry summer the union has been promising.

Oh, and starting in less than a month, the expansion of sales in grocery and convenience stores will begin.

Does the union realize that they aren’t fighting a losing battle but a battle the province has already won? Do they not realize that their actions are proving why having a unionized government monopoly of alcohol sales is a bad idea?

Government can make money without a government store

The union relied heavily on the idea that alcohol sales at the LCBO fund health care and education and without the sales coming through LCBO stores, the funding for those services would be lost.

“The revenues from those sales should stay in the LCBO, they shouldn’t help billionaires buy another yacht,” said JP Hornick, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees union.

It’s true that the LCBO turns over $2.5 billion to the province each year and that money does help fund services. Yet, if we look at other provinces, we can see that the government can still earn money from alcohol sales without controlling all aspects of the sale, warehousing and wholesaling of the product.

Quebec has a hybrid model of alcohol sales with beer and wine widely available in private stores while also operating the SAQ, the government-run liquor store chain. Alberta has a fully private model for retail and has for more than 30 years.

Both Quebec and Alberta earn significantly more per capita from alcohol via taxes and fees than Ontario does via the LCBO. And often, the prices in those provinces are lower than they are in Ontario.

If having a government monopoly on booze doesn’t bring consumers lower prices and it doesn’t bring the government more revenue, then what is the point of having one?

With this strike, the LCBO workers who think they are protecting their jobs are laying the groundwork for their elimination.

Alberta moved towards a fully private liquor retailing system starting in 1993 and they won’t look back. Saskatchewan closed their last government liquor store in 2023 and customers are better served now than they were under the old system.

The Ford government has never looked to eliminate the LCBO, it simply wasn’t on their agenda. This strike and the inconvenience to consumers as well as the bar and restaurant industry will put this issue on the table.

As the government begins a planned review of rules, regulations, taxes and wholesale pricing they can add another item to the discussion — privatization.

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