A Philosophy of Drinking.

A philosophy of drinking.

Ian Cooper

The government of Ontario is proposing to allow sales of beer and wine in grocery stores.

As a consumer of cheap grog, one can only applaud anything that tends to promote competition and bring the price of all things boozey down.

It's part of my philosophy of drinking.

As stated in the linked article above, small shops would still be prohibited, and they are still lobbying for inclusion.

“The government has been under mounting pressure to abolish The Beer Store’s lucrative cartel arrangement. Controlled by three foreign-owned brewers – Molson Coors Brewing Co., AnheuserBusch InBev SA, and Sapporo Breweries Ltd. – The Beer Store has the near-exclusive right to sell most beer in the province, and to supply the most popular brands to bars and restaurants. Nearly all other private beer retail is banned.”

It would be nice to be able to buy beer, chips, dip, frozen pizza or salsa, hotdogs and hamburgers all under one roof. The other issue is of course that of competition and that monopolistic retail system, operated under the banners of the Liquor Control Board and The Beer Store.

Glean MacLarty, (Wiki.)

Critics point out that corner variety stores would have to ensure that customers are of legal age, but they’re already doing that with cigarette sales.

***

In recent years, government-run casinos have essentially wiped out the charity bingo industry. 

At one time, the only lottery tickets we could buy were the Irish Sweepstakes. The original Wintario lottery, the first one in the province, began back in 1975, when this author was an impressionable sixteen years old.

It cost a dollar and you could win a hundred thousand dollars—we used to fantasize about how many cool cars we could buy with a hundred grand. I suppose we were very young, but the point is that lotteries have proliferated. Tickets are sold at every corner store and quite frankly, when all you want is milk, bread, or to pay for your gas purchase, waiting for some knucklehead to check forty lotto tickets, collect eight bucks in winnings and then buy another fifty bucks worth, is a pain in the ass. One can only assume that the province is profiting from my inconvenience and the excesses of the middle class, all of whom seem to have enough money for nice houses, good cars, and vacations down south in winter. Yet there is that effervescent dream of hitting it big. They spend a lot of money trying to make that happen.

In my own personal analysis, the employees of the LCBO and the Beer Store fear the move to open up beer and wine sales to the private sector for sound reasons, from their point of view. Sales elsewhere will take market share. There will be less need for their stores, although the distribution system will remain intact. The LCBO and The Beer Store are unionized. For the most part, grocery stores are not. (There are some.) Walmart has a grocery store. The employees there make eleven bucks an hour as opposed to eighteen or twenty bucks an hour. 

They see it as a sneaky way to get rid of a few stores, and get rid of a few unionized employees, always demanding better wages and benefits, and willing to take collective action to protect what they perceive to be their interest.

I understand all that, but I have my interest too.

Holy, crap, would I ever like to try that one. > mixpix, (Wiki.)

With three major suppliers of beer, with the wine distribution largely going through the LCBO, the corporate interests of the suppliers will remain largely unaffected.

Employees of the present retail system stand to lose most. At the same time, philosophically, the government has a bad habit of selling us booze, smokes and gambling in various forms. Prostitution has even been legalized in small selected zones. It is controversial, and the law is nothing if not unclear. (Story actually from Quebec. – ed.)

In a secular society, for the government to regulate sin is a non-sequitur insofar as it goes beyond the simple needs of social order and public health concerns. Let’s just say that for the government (any government) to give us moral lessons is a bit much.

I have no doubt that the Province of Ontario, in some fashion, went into business with what is essentially organized crime, in bringing casinos to the province. They had the expertise after all.

In this instance, they’re doing essentially the same thing, in a back-door attack on unions.

Surely this is in the corporate interest. The real question, is it in the interest of the citizens of Ontario.

In our local Walmart, the entire front wall of a rather large building is all basically concession booths. Why the grocery stores can’t have a big cold room full of beer and a department devoted to wine, all under the auspices of the LCBO and The Beer Store, is a good question.

Who knows, maybe that’s what will happen.

You never know, ladies and gentlemen.

Then, unionized employees would now be working inside of retail spaces that for the most part are not unionized. This might have some interesting social consequences.

Especially if you’re a union supporter.

Here’s an interesting contradiction. There is no such thing as a government pub, bar, hotel or other public drinking establishment, and virtually none of the private ones are unionized.

There is food for thought here for the true philosopher of drinking.

END

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