As politicians and newly-minted cabinet ministers leave Queen’s Park for an extended summer break, arguments over the cost of delivering a signature Ford government policy early continue.
In late May, Ontario Premier Doug Ford held a news conference at an increasingly familiar location: a Toronto gas station with temporary shelves of beer, wine and mixed drinks stacked behind him.
The premier, alongside his finance minister, announced an already public plan to sell beer in grocery stores and corner stores would be dramatically sped up. Instead of early 2026, the new policy means a phased expansion will now begin on Aug. 1.
After Sept. 5, eligible convenience stores will be able to sell beer, cider, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails, and after Oct. 31, all grocery stores and big box stores could sell those products, including large-pack sizes. Over time, the changes will add up to 8,500 new places where people in Ontario could buy alcohol, the government said.
The cost? That depends on who you ask.
Ford and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said a maximum of $225 million had been set aside to help The Beer Store transition and keep some stores open.
The Ontario Liberals claim the true cost is north of $1 billion.
‘Billion-dollar booze boondoggle’
Days after the announcement was made, the Ontario Liberals issued a bold claim, suggesting the true cost of the change was more than $1 billion.
The party suggested the province would be hit on four fronts through the new deal: money for The Beer Store, LCBO rebate fees, a wholesaler discount and lost licence fees.
To come to its figure, the Liberals assumed the full $225 million announced by the government, plus an estimate of $375 million currently paid by The Beer Store to the LCBO.
The Ford government’s beer liberalization plan includes allowing grocery stores to buy products from the LCBO with a 10 per cent discount. The Liberals argue that would cost a “low estimate” of $150 million over two years before the rate is renegotiated in 2026.
Finally, the Liberals believe Ontario could have raised upwards of $300 million if it had auctioned alcohol sale licences, instead of allowing stores to sell booze without an extra cost.
“This billion-dollar booze boondoggle is the latest example of Doug Ford lining the pockets of the wealthy, well-connected few at the expense of the people of Ontario,” Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said in a statement.
“Ford’s friends at the major grocery chains — who are already making billions in record profits — and big-box American stores are going to make a killing.”
The Ontario Liberals suggest those numbers could be the “tip of the iceberg” and do not include lost revenue into the government’s coffers if fewer people shop at LCBO stores.
‘Made-up numbers’
Confronted with the numbers on Thursday, Minister Bethlenfalvy said there was no truth to the Liberal figures but would not be drawn on some of the costs, beyond the $225 million payment to The Beer Store.
“Those are made-up numbers,” he said. “The only way you could get to the numbers like that is by increasing fees and taxes and that’s not our plan, in fact just the opposite.”
In particular, Bethlenfalvy took issue with the calculation that $300 million-plus have been lost by failing to charge for licences.
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“That’s categorically wrong,” he said.
“If you layer in the fees that were put in by previously governments and you extrapolate it whether they’re licence fees or other fees then you can get to a number. But that’s not what this government is doing.”
The May announcement of Ontario’s sped-up booze timeline fuelled early election rumours which the government has failed to shut down, while the premier announced the policy as people “finally being treated as adults.”
Ford was at pains to argue the $225 million his government will pay to The Beer Store — owned by Labatt, Sleeman and Molson — is not “money in their pocket” but is instead to avoid mass layoffs for Beer Store workers.
“What we’re doing, we’re supporting the front-line workers at The Beer Store … we’re going to be audited every step of the way, to make sure that it’s being distributed in the right fashion,” Ford said.
Bethlenfalvy refused to be drawn on what the ultimate cost of the early alcohol sale expansion would be, instead repeating that he would include the information in his regular financial updates.
“The numbers that we have said is up to $225 million. We said that we would update the numbers as the market opens,” he said.
“There’s always going to be costs, we’re not going to deal in hypotheticals.”
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