'Ontarians can be the judge:' Taxpayers group wants grocers to sell spirits during LCBO strike

LCBO workers have now been on strike in Ontario for a full week and at least one group says it might be time for the government to consider allowing other retailers to sell spirits.

Jay Goldberg, who is the Ontario Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, held a press conference outside Queen’s Park on Friday to call on the Ford government to consider opening up alcohol sales to grocery stores and other private retailers during the labour disruption, calling it the “perfect opportunity” to evaluate the LCBO’s current monopoly on spirit sales.

“The union says that they offer the best service, the best customer service and the best choice and selection. But while they are on strike we believe that Ontarians should have an option. Ontarians should have a choice and we can see how it goes at grocery stores. Ultimately, Ontarians can be the judge as to whether or not these unionized government-run LCBO locations are actually the best in terms of convenience, price and service,” Goldberg said.

• LCBO workers go on strike for the first time. Here's everything you need to know

The Ford government has previously said that the LCBO will retain the exclusive right to sell spirits in the province, even as it allows convenience stores to beginning selling beer and wine.

A spokesperson for the premier's office reiterated that promise in an email to CP24 on Friday, saying the government has "no plans to expand to spirits."

"The LCBO will continue to be the exclusive seller of spirits across the province. Furthermore, LCBO.com and the LCBO mobile app continues to accept orders, including spirits, for free home delivery anywhere in Ontario for the duration of a strike," the statement read. 

The union representing LCBO workers, however, has spoken out against the expansion of ready-to-drink beverages into grocery and corner stores and has suggested that the issue is a stumbling block to reaching a deal with the province.

Speaking to CP24 Friday afternoon, Colleen MacLeod, the chair of OPSEU/SEFPO's liquor board employees division, said the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's request was totally expected.

"It's a trial balloon for Ford's real agenda, which is all booze everywhere and really to make liquor the new norm and further dismantle the LCBO and its revenues," MacLeod said.

She accused the premier of forcing the strike for his own agenda to open up the alcohol marketplace, which MacLeod claimed would result in the loss of thousands of jobs at the LCBO and hundreds of millions of dollars in public revenues.

"When the LCBO says that they can't bargain public policy, but Ford's public policy will actually mean job losses in every community of this province, and billions of dollars drained from public services. But we're ready to get back to the table as soon as there's a deal that will change that," MacLeod said.

Premier Doug Ford, for his part, has said that the government will not walk back its plans to expand alcohol sales in an effort to end the strike.

“If they want to negotiate over RTD, the deal is off,” Ford told reporters at a news conference at a brewery in Etobicoke on Wednesday. “Let me be very clear. It is done, it is gone. That ship has sailed. It’s halfway across Lake Ontario.”

The LCBO strike has shuttered liquor stores across Ontario, though the government has said that it has contingency plans to reopen 32 stores on July 19, albeit for only three days a week and with limited hours.

Speaking with reporters on Friday, Golberg called the current strike a “war on convenience” and slammed workers for walking off the job over what he called the “common sense” expansion of alcohol sales in the province.

He said that in the absence of labour peace, the government should immediately allow grocery stores to sell “all types of alcohol.”

“This is a strike that the LCBO union decided to go on but we are saying now that the union has made the decision that they are striking it is time for the government to act on this crucial issue,” he said.

“I think what Ontarians will find is what we have found in many other provinces, like Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan: having more locations and more choice and more convenience means not having a government-run monopoly.”

OPSEU has previously warned that the Ford government’s plans to open up the sale of some alcoholic beverages to private retailers could result in significant job losses among its members.

“Doug calls himself a businessman. And I want to know what business person gives away some of their most profitable products and the largest growing market really right now and gives it away to everybody else,” MacLeod told CP24 earlier this week.