Wine & beer in Ontario's corner stores? One smart MPP is proposing it ...

Ontario would be able to sell the province's wine and beer in corner stores if a Liberal backbencher from Niagara Falls has his way.

Opposition critics say it's a cheap ploy to placate Ontario winemakers that could put more booze in the hands of minors. But Kim Craitor said the private members' bill he will introduce today would raise the profile of Ontario producers and help roughly 3,000 convenience stores if it became law.

It's no different than the system in Quebec -- where alcohol is sold at corner stores -- or the small LCBO outlets currently operating out of small convenience stores in northern and rural Ontario, Mr. Craitor said.
"They've been doing it in Quebec for many, many years and haven't had any difficulty," he said. David Caplan, minister responsible for the LCBO, said he is not that interested in having the conversation.

I wonder if this intelligent move has any chance of passing ... I think it's time we get some laws in place that would bring our wine industry out of this prohibitionist hangover and into the civilised, cultured world. I say this not as a general anti-LCBO thing, but specifically because I feel that the Ontario wine industry has been short-changed by the government monopoly - and giving the industry a chance at greater distribution of our home-grown wines can only be good for our wine culture.

MPP wants beer, wine available in corner stores

I wonder if this intelligent move has any chance of passing ... I think it's time we get some laws in place that would bring our wine industry out of this prohibitionist hangover and into the civilised, cultured world. [snip] . . . and giving the industry a chance at greater distribution of our home-grown wines can only be good for our wine culture

Hmmmm, I'll take the bait and argue devil's advocate on this one. You could argue that rather than helping Ontario's local wine culture, the measure proposed could actually stunt its growth. If I understand the proposed legislation correctly, it would give Ontario's local producers exclusive selling rights in Ontario's 3000 convenience stores. Wines not made in Ontario would still be banned from Ontario's convenience stores. That changes the calculus for Ontario's producers, who will now receive a captive market free of competition from non-Ontario producers thanks to a government dispensation. That would create new incentives for Ontario's producers to focus on activities that will do nothing to improve the quality of their wine (namely, rent-seeking, lobbying, and ensuring that the government dispensation giving them a monopoly continues). It would also reduce incentives to increase the quality and decrease the price of their wine (though they would face competition from other of Ontario's producers, so it wouldn't be truly a monopoly, they would no longer need to compete against wines from anywhere else--whether Manitoba or Macedonia--in convenience stores).

Result, in my opinion, is that it is likely to hurt rather than help Ontario's wines (at least from a consumer's perspective). But I'd be interested to learn how the "Ontario wine industry has been short-changed by the government monopoly." It sounds like fixing that problem and eliminating unfair disadvantages faced by Ontario's producers would be a better solution than giving Ontario's producers an unfair advantage somewhere else.

But then again, I don't live in Ontario and hence don't have much of a dog in this fight!

Keith, with the caveat that I am economically illiterate, you could very well have some keen insights into the possible fallout of such a move. Everyone knows that monopolies are hardly ideal vehicles for dynamism or change, and so local producers may experience a sudden surge of market access, but then later switch to other activities to make those avenues even more profitable. I guess it could happen.

My comments on Ontario's wine industry having been short-changed were essentially linked to the fact that, until very recently, "cellared in Ontario" wines (those cheap offshore warm-climate bulk wines that either get sold as Canadian wines or blended with a portion of Ontario wine) were callously lumped into the "Ontario" category at the LCBO, leading to possible customer confusion and the figurative watering down of our appellations. This sort of indifference by management, when met by consumer ignorance, may not result in any sparks per se but it does nothing to raise awareness of our appellation-specific estate wines - something that I'm sure is fiercely protected and codified in Europe's wine-producing countries - and which I think is a proper approach.

All in all, my basic argument is that we in Ontario and other developing wine regions must learn to edify our home-grown wines, promote their identities and not just do what is most profitable or economically convenient. Just using another example, it's like protecting a heritage building for the intangibles it represents instead of simply saying, "aw, nobody cares anyway and we'd make more money off it if it were a parking lot". That's the mentality I dislike so much.

This one has a snowball's chance in hell of being passed...

Local wines already have advantages, not least of which is the prime locations in all liquor stores in the province, Lower tax rate too, I believe. I'm with Keith on this one: what is needed is an even playing field, not more advantages given to local producers. It would probably lower the quality of ON wines overall...