I voted no.
But before I contribute to an old thread I should just say that I really only care about this as it applies to beer. And that I love craft beer. And the craft beer scene in Ontario is abysmal when compared to what is going on in the States and Quebec, and I think a lot of this has to do with the way beer is distributed in this province.
Also I didn't read all of this thread. But I love that I'm getting Coors Light ads as I skimmed through it. Because who doesn't love a beer that wants you to completely anesthetize your taste buds before you drink it?
Anyway. The LCBO is a government monopoly. As such, they make selling beer a bureaucratic nightmare of labyrinthian proportions.
The Beer Store is owned by Molson, Labatt's and Sleeman's which are in turn all owned by foreign interests, as ShonTron pointed out. They're set up to sell their own beer first and foremost and they make it incredibly difficult for small breweries to sell their beer.
So basically it's a pretty pathetic situation in this province when your two options for buying beer is a government owned monopoly or a retail entity controlled by the three major players in the market.
Having said that: Keep the LCBO. It has a lot to offer. It's imperfect, sure. But I don't think it should be sold. Remember, the LCBO is one of the largest single purchasers of beverage alcohol in the world and one of the largest retailers and I don't think the Ontario government is going to let go of that too easily.
And keep The Beer Store. It's a good place to buy popular brands of beer (if that's your thing). Plus where else are you going to return your empties? I think we take it for granted that we can take back empties and that many of them are reused. This isn't true in most of the world.
I would just like it if restrictions were relaxed and there were other options besides these two and that the LCBO didn't have so much control over importing. It would be nice if there was some competition from local specialty bottle shops who could import beer or sell locally brewed craft beer.
Some of the specialty bottle shops I have been to in America are mind blowing with the variety of beer they offer. While it's slowly improving, the LCBO absolutely pales in comparison. I'd urge anyone who says the LCBO has a good selection to drive down to Buffalo and check out Premier Gourmet or The Village Beer Merchant to see what good beer selection is. There are so many styles of beer that you just can't find here. There's few IPAs and not a single Imperial IPA in Ontario and yet the American market is completely saturated by these styles. Saisons...nope. Märzens? Nope. Imperial Stouts. Nope. Gueuze? Nope. Maibocks? Nope. Rauchbier or quadrupels? None that Know of. Etc. It's mostly very traditional English style brewing in Ontario, and the last thing the LCBO needs is another mediocre Euro lager.
Anyway, as I see it, the current LCBO/The Beer Store set up has stifled Ontario craft brewer's and made it incredibly difficult for American craft brewers from entering the market. Basically you need to have a lot of money to sell your beer in Ontario. According to Peter Chiodo of Flying Monkey Brewery (formerly Robert Simpson) in Barrie:
"The Beer Store is very expensive to get into. In fact, it would cost us about $20,000 to get listed in 20 stores selling the usual 6-pack, 12-pack and 24-pack. Furthermore, if we don’t meet sales targets, the Beer Store takes back the listing and bans us from selling in that store."
What kind of a system is it where you have to pay someone to profit from selling your beer?
And yeah, no. I don't think selling beer at gas stations and convenience stores is the way to bring more choice to beer drinkers, but reputable grocery stores might be a good start.
http://freeourbeer.org/