Monday, July 8, 2024

Be A Strike-Breaker

 ... if not in actuality, then in spirit. 


I said this in my previous post regarding the current LCBO strike: The longer the strike goes on, the more opportunities thirsty Ontarians will have to discover new, private sector sources to slake their collective thirst. 

Now it seems that Premier Doug Ford is in fact encouraging a kind of strike-breaking, and is even providing an interactive map where Ontarians can slake their thirsts::

Make this summer an Ontario-made summer! Our new interactive map shows thousands of convenient options where you can still buy beer, wine, spirits and other drinks across the province. Check out a local brewery or winery for some fantastic Ontario-made products near you and check back for more options at convenience stores, grocery store and big-box stores starting later this summer!


Aiding and abetting Ford's efforts to weaken and eventually eliminate the LCBO are the media, who breathlessly tell us that soon select LCBO stores will be open for limited hours for our purchasing pleasure, not once questioning the ethics of crossing picket lines.

It would seem that in Ford's Ontario, moral scruples are merely pesky impediments to an unrestricted free market.


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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 9, 2024 at 8:36 AM

    There’s a hidden agenda in the Ford plan to eventually get rid of the LCBO. the government retailer carries and sells a big selection of international wines, beers, and spirits. The smaller convenience store out will not carry those products. Consumer choice is going to be limited. Scotch lovers beware.
    However on the plus side, Ontario produced beers, wines, and
    spirits will have a bigger share of the market.
    John W

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    Replies
    1. LorneJuly 9, 2024 at 9:03 AM

      I have been thinking about the strategy Ford is using here, John. Because he knows there would be public outrage if he simply sold the LCBO, he is doing the next best thing: slowly rendering it irrelevant by making sure the strike is prolonged. Like Marx's much vaunted (but inaccurately-predicted) withering away of the state, the LCBO will slowly die. As for Scotch drinkers and those who enjoy good and various wines, well, since Doug is a non-drinker, their loss is a non-starter. The only real directive here is to enhance the private sector at the expense of the public one.

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    2. AnonymousJuly 9, 2024 at 10:55 AM

      I suppose this is an international trade issue. Wine producers like Australia and France, and spirit makers like UK, and US are being denied access to the Ontario markets.
      In the end Ontario we may see big free standing liquor stores which carry everything.
      Is the convenience store just a misleading transition to get to big private LCBO size stores? J. W.

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    3. LorneJuly 9, 2024 at 11:10 AM

      You may be right, John. I have visited two provinces that have private retailing of alcohol. In some stores the selection is very good, and in others, not so great. What I would really like to see is the ending of interprovincial obstacles to trade, especially regarding wines from other provinces. I am always puzzled as to why such barriers exist.

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