Ready-to-drink beverages, large beer packs available in grocery stores early, amidst province-wide LCBO strike

By Sam Odrowski

Ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages and large beer pack sizes are now available in Ontario's grocery stores.

The addition of these products to grocery stores came into effect July 18, two weeks ahead of the originally scheduled date of August 1.

The Ontario government accelerated the first phase of its plan to expand alcohol sales into grocery, convenience and big-box stores by allowing the 450 grocery stores that are currently licensed to sell beer, cider or wine to sell them once they arrive in store.

The acceleration of placing RTD beverages in grocery has come as more than 9,000 LCBO employees, represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), are on strike, closing 669 LCBO locations across the province.

The strike started on July 5 and, as of press time, there have been no plans to reopen any of the LCBO locations on strike.

In OPSEU's statement on July 4 announcing the strike, the union shared concerns about Premier Doug Ford's government moving to privatize alcohol sales.

“Doug Ford wants to make life better for his wealthy friends. It's why he's wasting upwards of a billion dollars of our money to fast-track privatized alcohol sales and hand more of the public revenues generated by the LCBO over to the CEOs and big box grocery and convenience chains like Loblaws and Circle K,” said OPSEU President JP Hornick.

The union fears that LCBO workers will face massive job losses as alcohol becomes available through private retailers.

During negotiations, which later broke down at the bargaining table, OPSEU proposed an alternative plan to the Ontario government's expansion of alcohol availability into the private sector. The union argued that the LCBO should be grown to meet demand and increase convenience by opening more stores, increasing hours of operation, and increasing warehousing, logistics, and e-commerce capacity. OPSEU said this will expand public revenues by increasing LCBO sales that are used to fund public services like health care and education.

The union said it would strike if its plan wasn't accepted, and began striking on July 5.

“We told Ford not to ruin everybody's summer, but now he's closed the Science Centre and forced a dry summer for Ontarians by refusing to offer a deal that would be good for LCBO workers and Ontario,” said Hornick.

However, the Ontario government argues the changes in alcohol availability within the province will improve choice and convenience for consumers while supporting Ontario-made beverage producers across the province. This includes the Ontario businesses that produce more than 80 per cent of the RTD beverages sold in the province.

"This is an important milestone for grocery retailers and consumers alike as we continue our work modernizing Ontario's alcohol marketplace,” said Ontario's Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy.

As part of the government's plan to expand alcohol sales, every convenience, grocery and big-box store in Ontario will be able to sell beer, cider, wine and RTD alcoholic beverages if they choose to do so, by the end of October.

This will create up to an estimated 8,500 new stores where these alcoholic products can be sold, which the Ontario government hails as the largest expansion of consumer choice and convenience since the end of prohibition almost 100 years ago.

But OPSEU warns that every dollar in profit made at these 8,500 new private retailers is a dollar that should have been invested into Ontario's communities.

The government said it will continue to evaluate how it can deliver choice and convenience to Ontarians as the changes are rolled out.

In addition to beginning the sale of ready-to-drink beverages and large pack-sizes of beer in the existing licensed grocery stores, the government is also creating temporary flexibility to allow licensed grocery stores to display alcohol in multiple areas of a store, with some limits.

“To help bars and restaurants manage inventory and to help ensure consistent supply of products, the government is also temporarily allowing the transfer of wine and spirits between locations with the same owner and/or affiliated licensees,” said the Ontario government in a press release.

“To help consumers connect with local retailers and producers close to home, the province has also launched a new searchable and interactive map of retailers that remain open and ready to serve.”

These retailers include more than 1,000 local Ontario breweries, wineries, wine shops and distilleries, in addition to other retailers such as LCBO Convenience Outlets, The Beer Store and licenced grocery stores that sell a range of Ontario-made and imported products.