'Get ready': Doug Ford teases beer and wine in Ontario convenience stores

Beer and wine could be coming to a corner store near you.

In a video posted to X on Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford appears in an aisle of a convenience store, saying, “We made a promise to you to bring beer and wine to convenience stores and grocery stores across the province of Ontario. Get ready.”

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Over the summer, the province met with stakeholders to formulate a plan to make good on Ford’s promise, first presented as part of his 2018 election campaign. The Master Framework Agreement, first signed in 2015 under Kathleen Wynn’s Liberal government, limited the expansion of beer and wine sales to 450 grocery stores, effectively providing the Beer Store with a monopoly on selling beer in 12- and 24-packs. That agreement expires in 2025.

Ford told reporters in November that the Beer Store will “still play an important role in the whole system” once changes are implemented.

Several of the grocers approved to sell beer and wine in 2015 have since removed alcohol from their shelves entirely, citing theft as well as thin profit margins imposed by the province’s framework as reasons why.

Ford is expected to make a follow-up announcement on Thursday with details about beer and wine sales in Ontario corner stores.