In the USA, a bottle of USA-made vodka is sold for about 70% less than what the LCBO crooks make us pay here for the same thing. I don't know about the other types of liquor, but I believe wines from the USA are also 60-70% less expensive down south. Something is so not right with how the LCBO prices their goods.... and then on top of that injustice, we have to learn that some citizens can buy at almost half the price than others is simply too much to bear !
The monopoly that the LCBO is enjoying in Ontario is a thing that a democratic govt. should feel ashamed of for having permitted for so long and still doing nothing about it even after Ontarians have brought it to their notice. The only way to set it right is to invite other liquor competitors to the Province and break this strangling monopoly.
Hopefully, Tim Hudak will do the right thing when he takes over the helm.
From Canada Press via YahooNews:
....Ontario's liquor board has sweetened an already sweet deal for the federal government and foreign diplomats as it chops the prices they pay for beer, wine and booze almost in half.
Late last month, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario began offering its products to federal departments and agencies at a 49 per cent discount from the retail price that everyone else pays.
The cut rate on alcoholic beverages is also available to foreign embassies, high commissions, consulates and trade missions, most of whom are located in the Ottawa area, within the LCBO's jurisdiction.
And the favoured buyers will be exempt from an LCBO policy dating from 2001 that sets minimum prices for products, under its "social responsibility" mandate.
The new pricing, approved by the board of directors on April 25 this year, replaces an older, more complex discount formula that was based on the individual cost of products.
The now-uniform 49 per cent discount is applied to the basic retail price, but before HST.
A case of imported wine, which currently costs consumers $203.18, is now priced at $104.80 for this special group, including HST and bottle deposit. Under the old discount, embassies and others had paid $131.27 — for an extra savings of $26.47.
Imported non-U.S. beer is similarly cheaper, at $28.68 a case versus $42.56 under the old discount. Ontarians currently pay full price at $53.93.
Ontario wine has also become cheaper, though imported booze will go up in price, to $175.63 a case from $143.91, compared with the $342.07 everyone else pays.
The federal government and diplomats can take advantage of the cheaper prices only by placing orders through the agency's private ordering department, rather than purchasing directly at retail outlets.........
I can comment on the case in NB where the government also has a monopoly on booze. A case(12)of NB beer costs $22 to $24 depending on the brand. I just bought a 750 ml of Gilbert's Gin for $24. Now when I make the hour's drive north to the Quebec side, on the reservation there, I can get 40 cans of Coors Light for $43. Technically by NB law, each adult is allowed only I case(12) of beer crossing the border at any one time. needless to say, this rarely enforced law is ignored for the most part though I am too chicken to get more that 2 cases(40) of Coors light. When I was in Florida in March, the beer prices were veven a bit cheaper that the reservation and decent bottled wine can be had for $4/bottle in Walmart.
ReplyDeleteSo... NB is just as cruel to the common man as is Ontario!!
DeleteWhat our govt. in Canada is doing where booze is concerned, is exactly the reason why people become smugglers or start making their own concoctions. The reason the lying politicians give us for keeping these prices marked to the very skies is that ... it's for our own benefit. Cheap liquor would mean we would drink so much of it, we would start using the sidewalks as our beds instead of the comfort of our homes.... or so those walking the halls of power in Ottawa must be thinking. As long as they and their minions get theirs at half price ... that's not like they are drinking booze, it's more like libation. It's use is holier than ours.
The double standards are jaw-dropping incredible.
I had joked to my friends in Florida that if the price of NB booze dropped to the same level as the Florida booze, New Brunswickers would turn into drunks overnight.
ReplyDelete