Quote:
Originally Posted by HighwayStar
I think you missed my point entirely.... point being in Arizona there are no more "social ills" due to free market alcohol sales than in Ontario or Quebec... so why do we need those expensive and bureaucratic unionized monopolies (LCBO, SAQ, regulations around beer and wine sales) to "control" things?
I'm sure the "booze tax" from LCBO goes into general revenues, and not only health care... but not only that, the "booze tax" is being spent on those glossy LCBO cookbooks, and (my favourite), plastering the LCBO logo all over the boards at Senators games. Like really? Hundred of thousands of $$ to advertise a government monopoly at hockey games? Your tax dollars at work folks.
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Point taken on LCBO advertising, but it's not really our tax dollars paying for that. The LCBO contributes to government revenues, it doesn't receive any.
There are some benefits to the model we have - better trained and better paid employees (who frankly are better at keeping alcohol out of the hands of people who shouldn't have it), a much better recycling record etc. I think those things get lost in the talk of opening the market up (which still requires lots of regulation and bureaucracy by the way).
As for microbrews, a reason many of those are surviving is because the LCBO mandates shelf space for them. I absolutely think that deregulation will hurt them at the expense of the big players, as there is really no effective way to do that when beer is sold in lots of different places.
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