Premier Doug Ford has a new road map to navigate the strike that has closed hundreds of LCBO stores across the province.
Ford on Monday unveiled a new searchable online map, ”where to buy alcoholic beverages,” designed to help consumers find their favourite beer, wine, cider and spirits.
“Even though LCBO workers are on strike, there’s still plenty of options for you to buy beer, wine, cider, coolers — and even spirits,” the premier said in a 90-second promotional video that begins with him flipping burgers on a gas barbecue surrounded by cans of Ontario craft brews.
“We’ve created this handy new map that shows what stores are open and what they sell,” Ford, who does not drink alcohol or eat red meat, said as he demonstrates the map on a MacBook laptop.
“Say you want to buy some Ontario craft beer, just zoom in on where you are, click the filter for beer — and look at all the fantastic options that pop up,” he said.
In a statement, Ford said the goal is “to connect people across the province to local Ontario-made products and support the hundreds of Ontario businesses and thousands of Ontario workers who make these products and serve customers each and every day.”
“It also supports our plan to offer consumers the kind of choice and convenience available to other Canadians when purchasing alcoholic beverages, starting later this summer,” he added.”
“I hope people across the province will take this chance to shop local and responsibly enjoy some great Ontario-made products!”
His move comes after more than 9,000 Ontario Public Service Employees Union hit the bricks after midnight Friday in the first strike in the history of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
According to OPSEU president JP Hornick, the workers are striking because of Ford’s “plan to try and expand privatization of alcohol sales in such a way to reduce the meaningfulness of the LCBO and the work that we do.”
“That puts every Ontarian at risk,” Hornick told about 80 pickets outside the LCBO store near Bay and Bloor Streets on Saturday.
There are about 680 LCBO outlets across the province that are currently shuttered.
Ford’s map includes hundreds of Ontario breweries, wineries, wine shops and distilleries as well as 449 licensed supermarkets, 422 Beer Store outlets and 389 rural LCBO agency stores in cottage country and other remote areas.
In May, the premier announced the Progressive Conservative government would pay the foreign-owned Beer Store $225 million to expedite the liberalization of booze sales more than a year ahead of the previously announced Dec. 31, 2025 deadline.
That means beer, wine and premixed cocktails in corner stores by Labour Day with the fully liberalized system in place around Oct. 31.
Under the changes, the Crown-owned LCBO would maintain its monopoly on spirits sales such as whisky, gin, vodka and rum.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie has warned Ford’s decision could actually cost taxpayers $1 billion and said it contributed to the LCBO strike.
“Doug Ford’s billion-dollar ‘boozedoggle’ is now failing 10,000 hardworking employees at the LCBO by putting their jobs at risk,” Crombie said Friday.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said “nobody wants a dry summer,” but blamed the Tories for bungling the booze file.
“The LCBO brings in billions to our community every year that then goes on to fund services like health care and education. Ford’s privatization experiments are going to cost the province good jobs and billions in revenue for public services,” she said.
Green Leader Mike Schreiner said the “chaos in the beverage industry is entirely the Ford government’s doing — and now Ontarians are the ones paying for it.”
While Ford’s government changed licensing rules during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow more than 19,000 bars and restaurants to sell bottles and cans to go, those pubs and eateries are excluded from the interactive map.
Nor does it feature popular independent wine shops like Grape Witches on Dundas Street West or Paris Paris on Ossington Avenue that emerged during and after the pandemic.
Specialty boutiques like Eataly in the Manulife Centre, which boasts one of the largest selections of Italian wines in Canada, are also not on the government map.
The Tories insisted it would continue to be updated “as alcohol sales are expanded to more licensed grocery and convenience stores. As LCBO retail stores reopen, these will also be added to the map.”
“Ontario can rest assured there are more options to purchase than ever before, thanks to the government’s bold plan to modernize alcohol sales,” Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said Monday.
