The LCBO - Part 1

There are two things I hate about Ontario and wine - Ontario wines and the LCBO. For those of you unfamiliar with the LCBO (Liquer Control Board of Ontario)... please give this a read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCBO .

The LCBO is a government run monopoly on alcohol. I do not believe they are doing a good job in serving the province of Ontario and changes need to be made.

Ideally, I would like to see them privatize the LCBO. I don't believe this will happen as Employees Union of the LCBO works very hard at putting out propaganda every time privatization issue comes up, the Government itself loves having the LCBO around for patronage appointments, and lastly the voters in Ontario are too apathetic to force the change.

I found the following on a report done for the Ontario Liquor Boards Employees' Union. ( http://www.yorku.ca/nuri/lcbo.htm )

The objectives and concerns of the LCBO are basically the following:

1. Regulatory control of the sales of alcohol to protect society;

2. Balancing regulatory control with the need to raise revenue for the provincial and federal governments through profits and taxes on alcohol sale;

3. Supporting the domestic wine industry and providing it with incentive through differential pricing, marketing, and promotion practices.

I am going to break this blog up into five parts - the first three will deal with each of the objectives, the fourth will deal with what is wrong with the current system and the last will be about suggestions I have for changing things with the LCBO.

So lets get started - 1. Regulatory control of the sales of alcohol to protect society;

Whenever the topic of privatization comes up this first point is a favourite for Ontario Liquor Boards Employees' Union propaganda, I call it the "Think of the Children" argument.

The "Think of the Children" argument is basically this - if booze was sold in convenience stores the restrictions on alcohol to minors would be much more relaxed than it currently is. They like to make out that minors would be buying booze buy the caseload, teen alcoholism rates would go through the ceiling, instead of packing a drinking box of Orange Tang in their lunches they'd switch to bottle of Vodka to get them through the day... Oh whoa is me!

The answer to this is simple - don't sell booze in convenience stores, instead require stores that carry booze to be stand alone stores. If your whole business and livelihood centered on having a valid liquor license, how relaxed would you be in I.D'ing minors?

Also this "Think of the Children" argument is bullshit anyways... when I was 16 and needed a bottle; it wasn't hard to find someone's older brother or sister to go buy it. I sure today's youths are just as 'clever' as we were.

So as long as alcohol is sold in stand alone stores this whole “Think of the Children” argument is invalid versus the current system...