spirits – mackaycartoons

Wednesday March 4, 2015

March 4, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 4, 2015

Premier Kathleen Wynne is promising a “more rational” system of selling wine and beer in Ontario.

One day after Wynne told Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb the province would soon have “a lot more open” wine market, the premier underscored that changes ahead will benefit consumers and the treasury.

“I assured him that that’s part of the work Ed Clark is doing,” she said Tuesday, referring to the former TD Bank chair who’s leading a panel reviewing the anachronistic way wine and beer are sold in Ontario.

“I’m not going to pre-empt his report. But there is an opportunity here,” the premier said, noting Clark’s conclusions would be part of Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s spring budget.

“We want these assets to work as well as possible for the people of Ontario. All of that is about finding ways to optimize these assets. Yes, to make the system more rational . . . but also to realize a funding stream, realize money that’s going to be invested in . . . infrastructure,” said Wynne.

“There will be some changes coming as a result of that work. I’m making an assumption that there are aspects of the liquor system in Ontario, the alcohol industry in Ontario, that are not as rational as they could be,” she said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Thursday February 12, 2015

February 11, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

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

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

Changes 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.

An 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.

“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)

Saturday November 15, 2014

November 14, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 15, 2014

Beer Store should pay more to province, says privatization czar

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government is threatening to take away the privately owned Beer Store monopoly if brewers balk at paying a “franchise fee” to the province.

That’s according to Wynne’s privatization czar, former TD Bank chair Ed Clark, who tabled a report on public assets Thursday that recommends modernizing booze sales.

While Clark cautions against selling off the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, he said the province could “free up $2 billion to $3 billion” to fund transit by liquidating parts of Hydro One.

More controversially, he said The Beer Store, owned by AB InBev, MolsonCoors, and Sapporo, will have to cough up more money to Queen’s Park without raising prices for consumers — or else.

“Their position is that they can’t afford to absorb a tax,” Clark told reporters in a conference call after releasing his 77-page study, “Retain & Gain: Making Ontario’s Assets Work Better for Taxpayers and Consumers.”

“If we do decide to charge a franchise fee of some sort (and they say) they don’t have any room, they’re just right up against the wall here and they don’t have a dollar to give . . . we’re saying, ‘Well, then that means you’re really saying is that this franchise that you have is worthless. Would you then give it up?’ ” said Clark.

“And then they say they don’t want to, but they don’t want to pay for it. We don’t think that’s a reasonable position. If you really think this thing is valueless, then give it up and we’ll auction it off and see if people would pay something for it.”

Clark’s salvo, which went further than anything in his premier’s advisory council on government assets’ report, caught the breweries off guard.

“Beyond what’s in the report, we haven’t seen anything from the council on that issue at all. We haven’t received anything that speaks to (those) comments,” said Jeff Newton, president of Canada’s National Brewers, which runs the 448 Beer Stores across Ontario.

The panel report said the LCBO, the government’s 639-outlet liquor monopoly, should be allowed to sell 12-packs of beer instead of just six-packs. That would help craft brewers, though cases of 24 would still be exclusively sold at The Beer Store.

“We believe that the relationship between the provincial government and The Beer Store should be revised to ensure that Ontario taxpayers receive their fair share of the profits from The Beer Store,” the report said.

“Consumers should not see an increase in prices as a result of this change.”

But Newton argued The Beer Store and the breweries, which employ 9,600 people in the province, cannot absorb any levy because “at the end of the day those costs have to go somewhere.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)