When You Go On Strike and Nobody Cares.

Jinentonix

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Sep 6, 2015
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Well, the LCBO strike was hilariously useless and accomplished nothing. Strikes only work when you come from a position of power or have some kind of leverage. Only 15% of Ontarians said they were personally affected by the strike. I mean it's not like there already wasn't a small plethora of options to legally buy alcohol that didn't include LCBO stores. There is also no shortage of leftards and "journalists" who can't seem to grasp the concept that the LCBO will still be in charge of liquor sales as they will still be the wholesaler and will take their cut from wholesale prices instead of retail prices.
What that means is the LCBO will still be pulling in at least 80% of the revenues they were pulling in before the change. The difference can easily be made up by reducing the province's corporate welfare by a "paltry" 7%.

LCBO stores will re-open on Tuesday. Not that anyone really cares at this point.
 

Taxslave2

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Aug 13, 2022
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Much the same direction BC was going. Much wineing from the extreme left government unions. There is something inherently wrong with government being involved in retail sales.
 
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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents LCBO workers, had said the labour dispute was largely about Premier Doug Ford's plan to allow convenience and grocery stores to sell ready-to-drink cocktails, saying expanded sales of the beverages would threaten their jobs.

(The union secured pay raises, a thousand more permanent jobs for casual workers and no store closures over the course of the three-year deal)
 

Taxslave2

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Aug 13, 2022
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The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents LCBO workers, had said the labour dispute was largely about Premier Doug Ford's plan to allow convenience and grocery stores to sell ready-to-drink cocktails, saying expanded sales of the beverages would threaten their jobs.

(The union secured pay raises, a thousand more permanent jobs for casual workers and no store closures over the course of the three-year deal)
They should tell someone that cares.
 

Jinentonix

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Sep 6, 2015
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Public sector unions always wanting you to have less so they can have more. You know what Ontario doesn't need? Unionized booze slingers demanding more of our taxes. Scrap the LCBO retail outlets altogether. Ontario doesn't need them. It also wouldn't be spending money on store maintenance and unionized govt employees who think the Ontario taxpayers have bottomless wallets.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Mar 18, 2013
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Down hereabouts, the craziest laws (usually ordnances done county by county) are limits on hours and offerings by booze shops and how much strippers have to cover up.

One of these days I'm gonna have to go to a county council meeting where they take public comment on those. Should be a hoot.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
Over the last year, the LCBO has fined suppliers – including some of the biggest booze conglomerates in the world – well over $100 million, saying that they’d breached the controversial "clause 14."

The individual fines, according to industry sources, have ranged from a few thousand dollars, to well over $1 million.

In May, Spirits Canada threatened to pull some of its products from LCBO shelves, and also said it was considering legal action against the provincial agency.

Spirits Canada said its members are considering everything from pulling some of their products out of Ontario to a potential lawsuit.

Spirits Canada’s members produce roughly 70 per cent of the spirits sold in Ontario, and some of the world’s most widely-recognized alcohol brands, including Crown Royal whisky, Bacardi and Appleton Estate rums, Don Julio tequila, Tanqueray gin and aperitifs such as Campari and Aperol.

After months of conversations with the LCBO over two previous sets of fines, Spirits Canada said its members are concerned that the fines — which can be issued roughly every three months — will continue.

This is a developing story.
Some of the biggest booze conglomerates on the planet are taking the LCBO to court, saying the provincial liquor monopoly is unfairly fining suppliers over a contractual clause promising to charge it the lowest price in Canada.

The booze producers — including Diageo, Campari Group, Beam-Suntory and Brown Forman — have also reported the LCBO to the federal Competition Bureau, saying the clause is an abuse of the agency's market dominance and is a restraint of trade.

"We are disappointed that we have had to refer the LCBO's contradictory policies to the courts, but at this time, and amid retaliatory measures by the LCBO, we have been left with no other options," Spirits Canada CEO Cal Bricker said in a press release.

The suit, filed in Ontario Superior Court Tuesday, says the LCBO didn't enforce the clause for a decade, then began actively enforcing it in 2023. Continued enforcement of the clause would result in higher booze prices than necessary across the country, including Ontario, the suit alleges.

"The Disputed Provision would inflate retail liquor prices across Canada to an unreasonable extent, by requiring Suppliers to raise prices they charge in other jurisdictions," the booze companies argue in an application to toss out the clause.

The LCBO didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the legal action or the Competition Bureau complaint.

The move comes just a day after LCBO stores opened up following the first strike in the agency’s history.