TORONTO - Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is rushing to get ready-to-drink cocktails on grocery store shelves amid a strike at the province's main liquor retailer that has focused on that very issue. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * TORONTO - Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is rushing to get ready-to-drink cocktails on grocery store shelves amid a strike at the province's main liquor retailer that has focused on that very issue. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? TORONTO – Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is rushing to get ready-to-drink cocktails on grocery store shelves amid a strike at the province’s main liquor retailer that has focused on that very issue.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy announced Monday that grocery stores that are already licensed to sell beer and wine can start ordering the pre-mixed cocktails, as well as large packs of beer, to sell starting on Thursday – sooner than the planned Aug. 1 launch of that step. “Our government is keeping our promise to give people in Ontario choice and convenience while supporting Ontario-made beverage producers across the province, including the Ontario businesses that produce more than 80 per cent of the ready-to-drink beverages sold here in our province,” Bethlenfalvy wrote in a statement.
The sped-up move is part of an already fast-tracked plan to expand alcohol sales in the province. Ford’s previous plan was to get beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails in convenience stores and all grocery stores by 2026, but in May he announced that would instead happen this year. Leadership at the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, whose approximately 10,000 workers at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario walked off the job July 5, have said that wages are not the main issue in the labour dispute, rather it is the expanded sale of ready-to-drink cocktails.
Previous rounds of alcohol market expansion in Ontario have kept spirits sales in the hands of the LCBO, and OPSEU worries undoing that will threaten the LCBO and union jobs. Ford last week firmly ruled out a reversal on that point, saying the ready-to-drink ship had sailed “halfway across Lake Ontario,” and he is now taking that a step further by allowing grocery stores to sell the beverages starting this week. The 450 grocery stores across the province that are already licensed to sell beer, wine and ciders can begin placing orders for the coolers and seltzers on Thursday and can sell the beverages as soon as they receive them.
They will also be able to sell larger packages of beer, such as cases of 24. Monday mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Under Ford’s plan, convenience stores will be allowed to sell beer, wine and coolers starting Sept.
5 while newly licensed grocery stores can do so starting Oct. 31. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2024.
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