monopoly

Saturday September 9, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 9, 2017

LCBO to run 150 marijuana stores

Premier Kathleen Wynne is cornering Ontario’s recreational marijuana market by restricting sales to 150 LCBO-run stores.

June 20, 2017

The standalone cannabis outlets, separate from provincially owned liquor stores, and a government-controlled website will be the only place weed can lawfully be sold after Ottawa legalizes it on July 1.

In a move that will close scores of illegal “dispensaries” that now dot Ontario cities, the LCBO will get its product from the medical marijuana producers licenced by Health Canada.

Only those 19 and older will be allowed to purchase or possess marijuana and pot consumption will be limited to private homes.

Smoking weed will continue to be illegal in any public space, including parks, workplaces and motorized vehicles.

Prices will be kept competitive to curb the black market.

November 27, 2015

The government expects a boost in tax revenues.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, and Health Minister Eric Hoskins unveiled the plan Friday at Queen’s Park after months of work from Ontario’s cannabis secretariat.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which runs the province’s 651 liquor stores, using workers who are members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, will oversee all retail sales and run the online service.

But the branding of the government’s new pot chain will not necessarily include the LCBO’s name.

September 24, 2015

“When it comes to retail distribution, the LCBO has the expertise, the experience and the insight, to ensure careful control of cannabis, to help us discourage illicit market activity and see that illegal dispensaries are shut down,” said Sousa, who has not yet determined how much tax revenue legalized weed will bring in.

Naqvi said the government has “heard people across Ontario are anxious about the federal legalization of cannabis.

“The province is moving forward with a safe and sensible approach to legalization that will ensure we can keep our communities and roads safe, promote public health and harm reduction, and protect Ontario’s young people,” the attorney general said.

There will be 40 LCBO weed stores in place across the province on July 1, 2018, 80 by 2019, and 150 in 2020. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

 

 

 

Thursday September 24, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday September 24, 2015 Six-packs coming to Ontario supermarkets this fall Consumers, craft brewers, grocers and owners of small bars and restaurants will finally quench their thirst for change under a new deal between Queen's Park and the Beer Store, the Star has learned. The 10-year accord clears the way for six-packs to be sold at 450 of Ontario's 1,500 supermarkets starting later this fall at the same cost as in LCBO outlets and Beer Stores. Beer prices in Ontario will continue Ñ on average Ñ to be among the lowest in Canada. "Nobody thought you could get this agreement with the beer guys," said a senior government official, referring to the foreign parent companies of Labatt, Molson, and Sleeman, which own the Beer Store and have enjoyed a virtual monopoly since Prohibition ended in 1927. "For the small brewers, we are increasing their shelf space," the insider said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the arrangement will not be made public until Wednesday. Indeed, 20 per cent of beer shelving in supermarkets, the LCBO, and Beer Stores will be reserved for independent brewers from anywhere in the world that make fewer than 4.6 million six-packs a year. That boutique category includes Ontario's 100 craft brewers Ñ such as Toronto's Steam Whistle Ñ as well as small Canadian firms like Brick. It does not encompass corporate craft brewer Creemore Springs, which is owned by Molson, or Labatt's Goose Island. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5926184-six-packs-coming-to-ontario-supermarkets-this-fall/ Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, beer, Beer Store, alcohol, monopoly, supermarkets, hoser, health, healthy eating, nanny state, social engineering By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 24, 2015

Six-packs coming to Ontario supermarkets this fall

Consumers, craft brewers, grocers and owners of small bars and restaurants will finally quench their thirst for change under a new deal between Queen’s Park and the Beer Store, the Star has learned. Saturday March 14, 2015

The 10-year accord clears the way for six-packs to be sold at 450 of Ontario’s 1,500 supermarkets starting later this fall at the same cost as in LCBO outlets and Beer Stores.

Beer prices in Ontario will continue — on average — to be among the lowest in Canada. Thursday February 12, 2015

“Nobody thought you could get this agreement with the beer guys,” said a senior government official, referring to the foreign parent companies of Labatt, Molson, and Sleeman, which own the Beer Store and have enjoyed a virtual monopoly since Prohibition ended in 1927.

“For the small brewers, we are increasing their shelf space,” the insider said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the arrangement will not be made public until Wednesday.

Indeed, 20 per cent of beer shelving in supermarkets, the LCBO, and Beer Stores will be reserved for independent brewers from anywhere in the world that make fewer than 4.6 million six-packs a year.

Saturday November 15, 2014That boutique category includes Ontario’s 100 craft brewers — such as Toronto’s Steam Whistle — as well as small Canadian firms like Brick. It does not encompass corporate craft brewer Creemore Springs, which is owned by Molson, or Labatt’s Goose Island. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Thursday February 12, 2015

Thursday February 12, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 12, 2015

Price hike possible amid potential Beer Store changes, Molson Canada CEO says

BSChanges to the Beer Store could lead to higher prices, the CEO of Molson Coors Canada warned on Tuesday.

Stewart Glendinning’s comments to The Canadian Press come amid a push from Queen’s Park for the Beer Store’s foreign owners — Labatt, Molson Coors and Sleeman — to start paying a “franchise fee.”
“My overall worry is that we create a problem for beer volumes in Ontario,” Glendinning said.

Monday, December 22, 2014An expert panel headed by former TD Bank CEO Ed Clark recommended the fee, a cost the companies would not be allowed to pass on to consumers as a price hike. Clark said the province could strip the brewing giants of their monopoly should they refuse.

Clark also recommended the government-owned LCBO be allowed to sell 12-packs of beer instead of just six-packs. As the Star revealed in December, a secret deal between the LCBO and the Beer Store means lucrative 12-packs and 24-packs cannot be sold at liquor stores.

Glendinning’s comments echo those of Jeff Newton, president of Canada’s National Brewers — which runs the Beer Store — who has said that adding new taxes to the retailer and selling larger packs at the LCBO is a “recipe for higher beer prices.”

But the province is still exploring the panel’s recommendations.

Saturday November 15, 2014“We know that changes need to be made at the Beer Store,” said Kelsey Ingram, spokesperson for Finance Minister Charles Sousa.

In November’s Fall Economic Statement, Ingram noted, Sousa expressed support for the recommendations, including improving transparency at the Beer Store, providing Ontarians with a fair share of profits, ensuring all producers, including craft breweries, are treated equitably, and extending the sale of 12-packs of beer into LCBO stores. ‎

On Tuesday, Glendinning described the Beer Store as a break-even co-operative. Sousa has previously disagreed. (Continued: Toronto Star)

Thursday January 29, 2015

Thursday January 29, 2015Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 29, 2015

Ottawa faces deficit with low oil prices, budget watchdog says

For SalePlunging oil prices will cost Ottawa billions of dollars in lost revenue but the Conservative government has enough wiggle room in its budget to weather the turmoil and still balance the books, the parliamentary budget officer says.

A new analysis released Tuesday confirms that low oil prices mark an unwelcome development for Conservatives and their pledge to balance the books this year.

In a report, <http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/files/files/LowOilPrices_EN.pdf>  the budget watchdog assessed the shock of dropping oil prices on the federal fiscal picture and said it would mean, worst case, a deficit of $1.2 billion this year and a deficit of $400 million in 2015-16, even after exhausting a $3 billion contingency fund.

Still, officials with the parliamentary budget office said the government can tinker with its fiscal plans to show a surplus despite the oil price hit, allowing the Conservatives to keep their vow of a balanced budget

Mostafa Askari, assistant budget officer, said a balanced budget is “very feasible” in 2015-16 thanks to the government’s ability find savings by slowing spending or delaying capital projects.

“There are many ways that the government can actually find some revenues or some savings on the spending side to make sure the balance is there,” Askari said. (Source: Toronto Star)

 

Published on National Newswatch and in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Monday, December 22, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday, December 22, 2014

Kathleen Wynne warns ‘change’ looms for The Beer Store

Premier Kathleen Wynne says Ontarians can “expect some change” in the new year on the way booze is sold in the province, including a rethink of the government’s deal with the foreign-owned Beer Store.

While the premier remained coy about how far she is prepared to go, she said the Liberals are “absolutely” serious about reforms.

“I’m impatient to get at that,” Wynne told the Star on Wednesday during a year-end interview in her Queen’s Park office.

“There’s a distribution system that works very well, but the fact it works very well has a value to it, right?” she said of the privately owned Beer Store.

“So how do we realize that value for the people of the province?”

A blue-ribbon panel on monetizing provincial assets led by former TD Bank chair Ed Clark has recommended keeping the LCBO in public hands while expanding its operations and charging The Beer Store a “franchise fee.”

Clark has warned the brewers, who claim they cannot afford another tariff, they will not be allowed to pass along the levy to consumers in the form of higher beer prices.

If they balk, the government is threatening to take away the monopoly enjoyed by AB InBev, MolsonCoors, and Sapporo, the offshore parent companies of Labatt, Molson and Sleeman. (Source: Toronto Star)

Kathleen Wynne, Ontario, Beer, Beer Store, liquor, cartel, monopoly, alcohol