The next movement of the Premier Doug Ford prime minister to reform the retail alcohol trade in Ontario could be allowing supermarket chains to sell their own wine and private label beer, such as the Costco Signature Kirkland brand.
The government recently began to consult the industry on making more changes in the Ontario rules on alcohol sales.
As part of the consultations, Big Grocery is pressing so that Ontario ends his prohibition of supermarkets who sell their own brand alcohol products, according to CBC News.
Current provincial regulations Prohibit groceries from selling any beer or wine brand in which they have “a direct or indirect financial interest.”
Little wineries in the province fear the consequences of raising that prohibition.
“Allowing private label wine in supermarkets, large box and convenience stores would be a severe blow to the Ontario wine,” said Michelle Wasylyshen, president and executive director of Ontario Craft Wineries, which represents more than 100 wine producers.
The LCBO earns almost 80 percent of its income from its points of sale, all currently closed by Strike, according to the latest annual report of the Corporation. Mike Crawley de CBC Desglose how the LCBO currently obtains profits and how things are expected to change with the reforms of the Ford government, including Prime Minister’s plan to sell select alcohol in convenience and ontarium grocery stores.
Wasylyshen says that while handmade warehouses deeply value their working relationship with groceries, the prohibition of private ontarium label must be maintained in place so that the large supermarket chains do not expel local wines.
“This is a black and white problem for us, backed by data and previous experience. There is no gray zone,” he told CBC News in an email.
BC also prohibits private label sales
The other important province that produces wines from Canada, British Columbia, where it is an industry of $ 3.75 billion a year, also prohibits supermarkets from selling their own brands.
The Retail Council of Canada, which represents all the large chains of supermarkets and large boxes, including Costco, Loblaws, Walmart and Sebeys, says that its members in Ontario are interested in selling their own alcohol brands.
“The private label increases competition, reducing prices for customers, because brewers and vineyards must compete indirectly with the lowest retail prices of private labels brands,” said Sebastian Prins, director of government relations of the Retail Council for Ontario, in an email to CBC News.
Prins says that the province’s wine industry would continue to be protected by provincial regulations that require supermarkets to assign certain parts of the space outside the shelf to the products made by Ontario.
He also says that private label sales could benefit grape producers in Ontario because retailers would look for new sources for their wine.
But with cross -border commercial tensions that remain high, and the LCBO currently does not store US products, a Ford spokesman says that private label sales are not currently planned as part of the modernization of the government of the alcohol retail sale.
‘Supporting Ontario producers’ is Ford’s priority
“Our priority at this time is to support Ontario producers and support products made by Ontario,” said Ford media director Grace Lee.
The impulse of private label sales occurs less than a year after Ford accelerated the timeline to allow convenience stores to sell beer cocktails, wine and ready to drink. This movement is costing taxpayers at least $ 612 million, including $ 225 million compensation paid to the mega breweries who have the beer store for extended retail competition.
In April, Ford announced a change in the price rules so that convenience stores now obtain their products at a 15 percent discount of the LCBO retail price, which gives them a potentially higher margin in wine and beer than edible stores, whose discount remains at 10 percent.
The Retail Council and the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers wrote a joint letter to Ford last month asking for a series of changes in the beverage market of the province, including the ability to sell private label alcohol.
The chain and the independent supermarkets also raised concerns about the mandate that all grocery stores that sell beer and wine must begin Accept cans and empty bottles in 2026A requirement not imposed on convenience stores.
