Heard today that the LCBO has lost hundreds of millions of dollars recently due directly to privatized liquor sales, which Doug Ford’s Conservative government has expanded.
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Heard today that the LCBO has lost hundreds of millions of dollars recently due directly to privatized liquor sales, which Doug Ford’s Conservative government has expanded.
When asked how the government responds to the news, it says it hasn’t ruled out closing LCBO stores to offset the loss.To be clear: The LCBO is an enormous cash cow for the people of Ontario. It’s a huge generator of money that goes into sectors like education and healthcare.
Ford expanding privatized alcohol sales is literally cutting money out of services that every Ontario resident needs. And his only response to the news is to consider closing some of the stores that have helped generate billions of dollars of income annually for decades.The government just signed a three-year contract with the LCBO workers’ union (ending the first-ever strike) and agreed to not close any stores. But nothing is guaranteed because contracts can of course always be broken and fallout dealt with, just like it was with Ford breaking the government contract with the Beer Store.
Bear in mind of course that any monetary compensation that’s paid out as a result of store closures — and it would be plenty to settle with years of lost income for all those put out of work — is also the government literally just coughing up tax payer money anyway. It’s not like Ford and his party will be out a dime of their own tidy incomes, so what the hell do they care? They’d get what they want (yay private sales, boo unions) and cover costs with other peoples’ money.
Win for them and loss for everyone in Ontario, many of whom still seem wilfully ignorant of what’s being done to them by what’s being done to the LCBO.An election can’t come soon enough to finally bounce these clowns.
