Part 1: Looming LCBO strike raises question of privatization
LCBO employees could be off the job as soon as Friday.
The union representing workers has set that day – the start of the Victoria Day weekend – as a strike deadline.
If a work stoppage does occur, LCBO officials say they will attempt to keep some stores open with management personnel.
But for some, the labour dispute is just another reason to abolish the agency altogether.
“I think we see a government that is drunk off of the revenues of unfair competition of the alcohol monopoly,” says Candice Malcolm of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
The LCBO passed along $1.6 billion to the provincial government in 2012 – off of about $4.7 million in alcohol sales – which critics of the LCBO call a sign that consumers are losing out.
LCBO officials say the system works just fine. So does the provincial government.
In a statement, finance minister Charles Sousa tells CTV that LCBO revenues are funnelled into education, health care and infrastructure.
“Our government believes that Ontarians are well served by the current retail system,” the statement says.
The government and the LCBO say there’s a public trust with the LCBO that may not be the same for individual retailers selling alcohol under a privatization scenario.
“Part of the concern is that the standards may or may not be enforced as vehemently as they are at the LCBO,” says LCBO spokesperson Heather MacGregor.
Last year, LCBO employees checked the ID of 7.8 million people, and turned away 322,000 of them.
But in a 2010 study by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, only 41 per cent of participants aged 19 to 24 had their ID checked by the LCBO – compared to 61 per cent at The Beer Store and 73 per cent at convenience stores.
“People are sick of this kind of system,” says Malcolm.
“It’s time for choice and competition to be brought in.”
The union representing local LCBO employees disagrees with that idea.
“Social responsibility would disappear,” says Chris Patterson, president of OPSEU Local 285.
“You would have the price of alcohol increasing, and at the end of the day, the overall selection and availability would also drastically decrease.”
Part 2: Convenience store owners want ability to sell alcohol
The looming strike deadline for LCBO employees has lent renewed vigour to calls for a reformation of Ontario’s liquor laws.
A petition started by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association to allow alcohol sales in variety stores has gathered more than 112,000 signatures.
“Let’s start moving forward and understand that we can’t afford to build $3-million Taj Mahals and pay $30-$35 an hour, when in fact there’s another channel that is willing to deliver those goods to your neighbourhood,” says Dave Bryan, the group’s CEO.
Proponents of opening up alcohol sales say it would put a stop to situations like the one currently taking place, where LCBO employees may walk off the job and deprive Ontarians of alcohol.
The provincial Progressive Conservatives have even released a white paper on the issue, saying the government should continue to regulate alcohol sales, but doesn’t need to administer every single sale.
“We need to start treating adults like adults in the province of Ontario,” says Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris.
Bryan says craft brewers and local vineyards stand to benefit from relaxing alcohol rules, as they may be able to sell their products through a handful of local stores rather than needing to deal with one seller across the province.
Harris says such a move could also increase the $1.6 billion in profit the LCBO handed over to the province last year.
“If you open it up to more franchising, more stores, more revenue – (there are) greater profits for the province,” he says.
Part 3: LCBO privatization debate not just about money
The union representing LCBO employees reached an agreement with the alcohol giant late Thursday night, averting a potential strike over the long weekend.
But the lack of a work stoppage won’t simmer the long-standing debate over alcohol in Ontario, and whether there is a better way to distribute it.
On one side are groups like the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, which says alcohol should be available more widely, including in its member stores.
“Ninety-nine per cent of Ontarians have proven they’re mature, they can handle alcohol responsibly,” says Dave Bryan, the group’s CEO.
On the other side of the debate stand groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving
MADD CEO Andrew Murie says the current system provides more government revenue and lower alcohol-related crime rates than privatized systems.
“Since 1993, when Alberta privatized, it’s always had one of the highest impaired driving rates in Ontario,” he tells CTV.
“Compare the economic situation and the LCBO has always been way more profitable.”
Pam McIntosh says she’d expect to be busier if there were more places for consumers to purchase alcohol – but as she’s the manager of addiction services for House of Friendship, that’s not a good thing.
“If alcohol is available around the clock at many locations, people’s consumption of alcohol will increase. That’s a fact,” she says.
In Waterloo Region and Wellington County, impaired driving, binge drinking and alcohol abuse rates are all higher than the provincial average.
An estimated 20 per cent of Waterloo Region residents are affected by alcoholism in some way.
