Tuesday, April 29, 2025

It seems like every time there’s an election looming in this province — politicians start to throw around the possibility that Ontario’s restrictive retail alcohol laws may be due for an over-haul. That has some people thinking about longer hours, wider access or even the possibility of convenience store sales. Well, we heard that suggestion again on Tuesday from Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa who rolled into Toronto to roll out a “new plan” to give Ontario consumers more flexibility, for purchasing alcohol. But the plan may not be quite as revolutionary as it seems.

Now, the Minister was enthusiastic: “I’m thrilled to be here this afternoon.”

But Ontario consumers may be disappointed

Dave Bryans is with the Ontario Convenience Store Association: “It doesn’t really mean anything for small business, so we don’t see the government recognizing what 70 percent of the voters are asking for.”

The government plan would see 10 new LCBO ‘kiosk’ stores open inside large grocery stores in Toronto, Mississauga, Ottawa, London, and two in Niagara wine country.
The stores would specialize in Ontario wines and craft beers, as well as some liquor products.

Minister Sousa: “This pilot is a step in the right direction to increasing access for Ontario’s consumers.”

Well for a small minority of consumers perhaps. But most of Ontario is left out — including anything north or west of Ottawa and major cities like Kitchener, Windsor, Hamilton, and Kingston.

Dave said: “Unfortunately Ontario, your first LCBO express store will be sometime in 2016 on the trend it’s on, and that’s not what we asked for.”

The express kiosks are really just new LCBO outlets located in grocery stores — only they’re smaller.

Minister Sousa: “There will be a separate register for the LCBO purchases, for the wine and beer and spirits that’ll be purchased within those stores, that’ll be at a separate kiosk.”

They will be staffed by regular LCBO employees — and keep regular LCBO hours – which makes this statement by the minister somewhat dubious: “We’ve all been in that situation where we’re heading out to a dinner or we need to stop to pick up dessert on the way — this makes it easier to pick up that bottle of wine beer or spirit on the way as well.”

It may take a year or more to open the first LCBO express — And if that doesn’t quiet the demand for a more wide-open system?

Minister Sousa: “It’ll change over time, so we’ll then be able to determine how much more access will develop thereafter. This is just another phase and it’s just a first step with ten pilots.”

But at least the promise is in place, before the next election.

So this bold new plan is really just a slight tweak on something we’ve seen for over a decade now — wine boutiques in grocery stores. This new initiative will expand that product offering — sort of — by opening ten — two-thousand square foot stores in a handfull of cities, to serve nearly 12-million people, in Ontario.