National Capital Region Beer News

[phil235]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

The "big players" (in beer) are large multinational corporations with a monopoly (who btw export their profits out of the country), so trying to defend that model is just a tad difficult.

I honestly don't think LCBO employees are "better trained" to handle the underage problem. One of my last visits to LCBO directly in front of me there was a very young "rough looking" person who was asked for ID. He said, "is a Passport ok?" (like really.. a shady looking young person is carrying around a Passport as his only ID?) Anyway, I saw the passport had a cut-off corner (i.e. it was expired.. and in all likelihood doctored), but the clerk didn't question it at all. I mentioned this to the clerk, and he just gave me a "so what" kind of look.

Anything after LCBO expenses goes to the government... correct. However, money from public to government is a TAX (just by another name). LCBO employees work for the government... so it's just a "hidden" tax.

Anyway, my point remains. I have seen little, if any, evidence that all the bureaucracy (and huge costs and "inconvenience" to the public) around liquor sales in Ontario and Quebec are worth the expense (and most of the world agrees btw, except Sweden and perhaps a few other countries and provinces). It's just another transfer of funds from the public to the government, with very little gain to the public in general.

Agreed that it is hard to defend the Beer Store now that it is foreign owned. I just meant that with that model, it is much easier for the government to mandate giving shelf space to micro brews, which it does.

It's a matter of perspective, but I don't buy that the expenses of a revenue-generating corporation that provides a service to the public is a hidden tax. If it is truly more expensive to run than a private sector network, then maybe you could argue some of their expenses are a tax, but I've seen nothing to suggest that there is a great additional cost doing it the way we do. Transportation and regulation (licensing and inspection) are two obvious areas where the private model is going to be more expensive, without the public good benefit of profit going to the government and a really strong recycling program.