A deal to keep Crown Royal on LCBO shelves could be close at hand.
A spokesperson for Crown Royal maker Diageo tells 680 NewsRadio that it’s now, “‘in ongoing discussions with Premier Ford’s team,” adding the talks are, “around strategies where Ontarians can continue to benefit from Diageo’s significant investment in the province.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has seemingly offered the company an off-ramp to prevent his promised boycott in recent days.
“I’m flexible,” Ford said last week, suggesting that he would cancel his promised plan to remove the liquor from the LCBO if the company were to come up with a proposal to replace the 200 jobs that will be lost.
“Show me a plan that’s going to replace those jobs, and then we’re good,” Ford said.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is hinting there may soon be a resolution to the dispute, telling reporters Thursday that, “it’s moving along in a positive direction.”
“I don’t think it’ll be like some big signing ceremony where it’s Doug Ford and I, shaking hands and high-fiving or whatever,” said Kinew.
“But if there’s just maybe a way to take down the temperature and Diageo is able to announce something that is good for the Ontario worker.”
Ford has threatened to remove Crown Royal from sale after Diageo decided to relocate a bottling plant from Ontario to the United States.
The whiskey continues to be distilled in Manitoba and bottled for the Canadian market in Quebec. The glass bottles used for Crown Royal are also produced by a Brampton manufacturer, which could be impacted by the boycott, as first reported by 680 NewsRadio.
