The Biggest Change Since Prohibition…NOT!

Within days we will be entering a brave new world in Ontario with lots of competition in beer sales from private retailers, with wine following close behind.  At least that is the hype from the provincial government as it announces “the biggest change since the repeal of Prohibition”, with its recent amendments to the Liquor Control Act.  It’s now time to take a closer look at what these “changes” really are.  This post is more about beer than my usual wine theme, because that’s what’s happening right now, but the current situation illuminates the mindset of the folks who came up with this scheme.

The Beer Store Monopoly

First, a little background to beer sales in Ontario.  Many, many people believe that The Beer Store, which has a near monopoly on beer sales in the province, is government owned.  In an Ipsos Reid survey in 2013 (reportedly, as the survey results can no longer be found on line), only 13% of responders knew it was foreign owned [buzzer sound]  Yes, it is owned by three giant multinational foreign beer companies, none of which is majority Canadian owned:  Molson Coors (read Coors), Anheuser-Busch InBev (owners of Labatts), and Sapporo from Japan (owners of Sleemans).  I say “near monopoly” because there are only two other ways for the consumer to buy beer in Ontario, at the LCBO (also a near monopoly) and at the breweries themselves (not very convenient).  Now here are the facts that will make the situation clearer:

  • The Beer Store (we’ll call it TBS from now on) is privately owned.
  • It sets its own prices, unregulated (to be accurate, prices are set by the brewers, but as we have seen, that is effectively the same thing).
  • Correction, the only government regulation is to set a minimum retail price.
  • Any other beer retailers must sell at the price set by TBS.  Therefore it is effectively a monopoly if competitors cannot undercut on price.

There is no other jurisdiction in the world that licenses a private company to have a monopoly on alcohol sales and then to have no regulation or oversight on pricing.  It’s madness.  And here’s one more point that will make you sit up.  The Beer Store also supplies bars, restaurants, etc. for selling on to consumers.  Since that activity is effectively wholesaling, the price charged will be somewhat less than the price consumers pay, right?  WRONG!  TBS charges up to 30% more to drinking establishments than to retail customers.  They are out of control.  You can see the actual numbers in the recent C.D. Howe Institute report on “The Need for More Competition in Ontario’s Alcoholic Beverage Retailing System”; check out Table 1.

The Truth about Grocery Store Sales of Beer

Starting December 15, 2015, grocery stores are commencing sales of beer to the public.  What we gain is some more outlets selling beer.  That’s good.  More importantly, there’s finally some competition for TBS, right?  Wrong again.  As pointed out in the previous section, the new retailers must sell their beer at the same price as TBS in order to protect it from serious competition.  Here are a few more interesting points:

  • The new retailers can only obtain their beer inventory through the LCBO.
  • There was a bidding process to obtain the right to sell beer at a grocery store.  The regulations required that the retailer’s application stipulate a profit margin of between 3% and 9.9%.  Well, just imagine how successful you would be if you went with the high end.  Therefore the retailer will only have a margin of a few % and the LCBO retains almost all the profit for acting as a middle man.
  • The beer sales counters can only be open during the same hours as the LCBO or TBS, not grocery store hours, so you’ll often go and find beer unavailable.  That surely doesn’t contribute much to the convenience factor.
  • Beer cannot be sold in any package larger than a six-pack, a rule also designed to protect TBS.
  • Stores must have at least 10,000 square feet of food retail space, and must sell a complete range of fresh and packaged foodstuffs.  These rules are designed to shut convenience stores out of the market.

All right, that’s enough about beer – you get the idea.  The government has designed the system to protect the big boys while appearing to increase competition.  The only advantage to the consumer is a very modest increase in convenience while the huge advantage to the government is that they may be able to fend off some lawsuits that are challenging their right to monopolize the business and inflate prices.  Now let’s see what the implications for wine sales might be.

Grocery Store Sales of Wine

At the moment the enabling of grocery stores to sell wine is up in the air because of the purported additional complications in this market, related to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  The possible problem is that there is an exemption in NAFTA that grandfathers winery owned stores that existed before NAFTA came into effect.  At that time many different wineries had retail stores (they were only allowed one each) that were stand alone or on the premises of supermarkets, for example.  Because the number of stores was then fixed in perpetuity, larger wine companies started buying up the little guys in order to gain the retail store space, thereby limiting competition.  We have now reached the point where 260 of the 292 stores are owned by just two companies:  Constellation Brands (the “Wine Rack”) and Andrew Peller (the “Wine Shop”).  This situation has put most small producers at a disadvantage in the marketplace, perhaps contributing to the decline in Canadian wine sales over the past 40 years.

The rule (and I think there is something similar in the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA) is based on the premise that additional stores selling only Canadian wine would put foreign producers at a disadvantage.  But grocery stores wouldn’t be limited just to Canadian wine, so this sounds like a bogus argument to slow down the process until the LCBO figures out how to hamstring the grocery stores so much that the LCBO makes as much money as ever for less work.  Legal opinion seems to agree with me.

So, heaven only knows what the LCBO is plotting (the government basically takes their marching orders from the LCBO in the area of alcoholic beverage sales) but you can be sure that increased competition is the least of their concerns.  We are supposed to find out more early in the New Year.

A False Dawn

Over the past few months the LCBO has been making a lot of noise about how it is growing and changing to provide greater service to the Ontario consumer.  However, if you look at the grandiose announcements and press releases more carefully, it is clear that this is the false dawn of a new era at the LCBO.  In fact they are playing their same old tricks of kill the competition and feed propaganda to the consumer.

So what’s been happening?  Let’s look at some new LCBO initiatives and try to understand what they really mean, beyond all the hype and government pronouncements.

First we heard, in late 2012, that the KGBO would be increasing access to their products by opening ten “Express” outlets attached to major supermarkets and the like, similar to the way winery stores are currently located; the first will open some time in 2014.  Such an attempt at so-called increased access is pitiful – ten stores?  That’s hardly 1% of the existing number of outlets, including Agency Stores.  In fact, the LCBO wants to restrict access, as then Finance Minister Dwight Duncan made quite clear during the announcement, stating that he wished to “…make sure we don’t have alcohol on every street corner in Ontario.”  (This is certainly a  differentiator from private industry, which would commit the unpardonable sin of placing stores where the market and the demand are.  If there is more demand a store opens; if demand wanes, a store closes, whether it is on a street corner or not.)  So increased access is not the objective of these “Express” outlets – then what is it?  Well, the locations give a clue.  They will clearly compete with winery stores and maybe put them out of business because of the LCBO’s broader selection.  That fulfills the twin related goals of killing the competition and reducing independent sales by wineries (independent of maximum LCBO profits, that is).  Of course, these locations beg the question:  Isn’t is silly to to have a separate retailer right next door to, say, Loblaws, who could do a much more efficient job of stocking and retailing, with more convenience and lower cost to the customer?

A related move by the LCBO took place this summer when they revealed their plans to place “Our Wine Country” VQA boutiques within selected stores.  Let’s once again give the finance minister (this time Charles Sousa) a chance to explain:  “These new stores will give smaller wineries increased access to larger markets.”  OK, the smaller wineries, who can’t ordinarily get SKU’s in the mother ship, as well as limited production labels from Ontario wineries in general, should have better access to consumers.  Of course, the first few of these corners will best fulfill the stated goal and reach the largest number of customers by locating in the major population centres (the “larger markets”) of Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, and London, right?  So then why are they are being located in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and Windsor?  Wait, aren’t those cities all in wine country where locals already have access to limited production wines?  If one were cynical, one might almost think that the aim (again) is to limit competition and reduce the amount of direct sales by wineries.  I did hear a contrary view from one small winery proprietor who pointed out that most people, even in wine country, don’t head to a winery for something to accompany their evening meal; they just stop at the LCBO.  But through VQA boutiques her products could reach that audience.  Perhaps, but the selected locations really put paid to that idea.  It is increasingly clear that the LCBO considers Ontario wineries to be a nuisance.  They cut into profits and the sooner they are put out of business the better.  After all, then they would be in a true monopoly position and could just sell millions of bottles of Fuzión and make tons of money with little effort.

Just to underscore this message, and here’s my third point, we find that the LCBO/Ontario government combine has found yet another way to stick it to Ontario wine producers and Ontario consumers.  As described in an earlier post, federal Bill C-311 now allows the private importation of wine from one province into another for personal use.  This action should finally remove that ridiculous impediment to trade that makes it illegal to order wine from one province for delivery in another, as if the provinces are separate countries.  No wait, you can freely move goods between countries in the European Union, so we have been even more regressive than sovereign nations!  But now, problem solved, right?  Wrong.  Implementation of C-311 is still subject to the whim of the importing province.  So far, according to Free My Grapes,only BC and Manitoba allow wine to be shipped directly to their residents from a winery in another province.  Nova Scotia is in the (slow) process of changing their rules.  Even the territories have made no change to the federal statutes governing wine purchases, although it was the federal government that changed the rules!  Most other provinces are dragging their feet, especially Ontario, whose Premier Wynne who has been quoted as saying that she would not allow the LCBO to open up the borders.  In fact, there is a legal grey area here as there does not appear to be a statute restricting the import of wine, only an LCBO policy.  For more on the convoluted legal status, check out Mark Hicken’s article.

Now, it has been pointed out, most recently by Rod Phillips in Vines magazine‘s October edition, that few people wish to order wine by the case, especially from out of province, so this is a bit of a non-issue.  That  may be a valid point, but if so, why not get rid of what is a needless barrier to interprovincial trade?  If it does not harm, but helps a few, then let’s go for it.

So how does the Ontario wine industry feel about this?  After all, if BC consumers can import Ontario wines while Ontario consumers cannot import BC wines, Ontario has the upper hand, right?  Well, aside from the extreme dog-in-the-manger nature of that attitude, it misses the point that if all provinces free up their rules, all wine producers are winners since there is a larger market outside of any one province (even Ontario, Premier Wynne!) than within.  And usually it takes some of the larger provinces to lead the way.  As for the producers themselves, some may take the narrow view.  More representative, however, is Hillary Dawson, president of the Wine Council of Ontario who, when talking about on-line ordering, reminds us that: “It’s actually called modern wine retailing. That’s what they do all around the world.”

To discuss the fourth and last recent development, I’m going to circle back to the question of access and availability.  A recent initiative from the Ontario Convenience Stores Association is a push to make beer and wine available at corner stores, as is already the case in Quebec.  They have so far collected 112,500 signatures for their on-line petition at freeourbeer.ca.  In 2012  a secret shopper study showed that convenience stores are significantly more diligent about checking for underage purchasers than either the LCBO or the Beer Store.  This study was based on cigarette sales in the case of convenience stores, but it highlights how store owners are more stringent than public institutions because their livelihood depends on following the law rather than being an arm of the lawmaking body, as is the case with the LCBO.  Imagine an industry where both the setting of the rules and the ultimate enforcement of the rules lies in the hands of the business owners themselves.  Ouch!

As for the contrary view, there are a few apologists out there drinking from the LCBO Kool-Aid.  An example is this article in the Toronto Star.  The key point made is the assumed loss of revenue; but that argument makes no sense since the province can place whatever taxes and licensing fees on the vendors that it wishes.  Revenue can easily increase.  The second argument is the old chestnut about not putting alcohol into the hands of minors; for the counter point, see the preceding paragraph.  Finally, that meaningless statistic is trotted out once again, that the LCBO denied 322,000 out of 7.8 million customers in a year.  But how many get through undetected?  With respect to that much more significant question, the LCBO is tellingly silent.  Finally, the Star columnist asks, how can these minimum wage convenience store clerks possibly have the training, time, and inclination to ask for ID?  Well, their jobs depend on it, of course!  They do it every day with cigarettes.

The final argument for sales by corner stores comes right from the LCBO playbook – they are doing it already!  There are some 218 Agency Stores in Ontario.  These are small stores licensed by the LCBO to sell LCBO products on their own.  It’s almost as if convenience stores were selling wine and beer!  Except that spirits are included as well.  There seems to be no problem with these clerks and cashiers taking responsibility for selling booze and asking for ID.  All of the LCBO and Ontario government arguments simply fall flat in light of the existence of Agency Stores.  And they are not just in the far north or other parts of the province remote from normal outlets.  I live in Ottawa and I counted over half a dozen Agency Stores in the greater Ottawa area.  So there is no new legislation required to enable wine and beer sales by corner stores.  All that is necessary is that the LCBO increase the number of Agency Stores and remove any rules they have about store location.

My conclusion is that the alcohol sales landscape in Ontario needs a complete overhaul.  The current system’s attempts at innovation are feeble at best and regressive at worst.  Now, the province did announce recently that it is once again assembling a blue ribbon panel to map out a future direction.  I expect the recommendation will be similar to the last time this was tried – full privatization.  Then will the provincial government follow through on the advice, or will the response be the same as before, to “deep six” any opinion contrary to their own?  Let’s be optimistic and hope that in a couple of years we will be toasting the true dawning of a new age of wine availability in Ontario.

Private Affairs

I find that there are two connotations of the word “private” when applied to the LCBO.  First, there are the continuing calls for privatization of the LCBO’s business.  In fact, it seems to be routine for every political party to call for privatization while in opposition.  Right on cue, we have recently heard that familiar call from the Conservative party.  However, as soon as a party takes over the government, the idea is always dropped.  The closest we came to anything happening was in 2005 when the government of the day set up a blue ribbon commission to study and recommend the best future direction for the beverage alcohol business in the province.  The unanimous recommendation of the panel was for full privatization, so naturally the report was put on ice and any further discussion was quashed.  Since it was no longer up for public discussion, it effectively became “private” as well (the second connotation of the word).  Fortunately, the report is still available for perusal on line.  So, let’s take another look at the report and the panel’s recommendations in more detail and try to get a better idea of what the options might be.

There were four members of the Beverage Alcohol System Review Panel (BASRP), none of whom had any financial interest in the industry.  The chairman was a former Vice-Chair of the LCBO, so its workings were well understood.  The other members were a former Commissioner of the OPP, a corporate CFO, and a senior banking executive.  Therefore the major concerns of social responsibility and revenue generation were also well represented.  The terms of reference were to undertake a broad review of the beverage alcohol system and recommend how to get better value for consumers and government.  Any recommendations had to maintain or enhance each of these five factors:

  • Socially responsible storage, distribution, sale, and consumption;
  • Convenience, variety, and pricing for the customer;
  • Value to the taxpayer;
  • Reuse and recycling;
  • Promotion of Ontario products.

In order to fulfill their mandate, the panel members began by studying options from many other jurisdictions in Canada, U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, alongside an operational analysis of the present system in Ontario.  Then they put this information together to identify a number of viable options for Ontario.  Each of these options was subjected to analysis, both qualitative and quantitative, as well as risk analysis.  Five options were identified as the most promising and one was unanimously selected as the final recommendation.  The five options are described in the following table:

OptionSystemDescription
1LicensingRetailers and wholesalers are licensed by public sale for five year periods, and pay an annual fee;
Limit the number of retail outlets;
Set a minimum price level.
2Retain/ImproveStatus quo with improvements recommended by an operations review
3DivestmentSell LCBO assets to a non-profit beverage alcohol authority (monopoly) or through a public offering
4Joint VentureLCBO, BRI, and winery stores merge into a single organization
5CompetitionPrivate retailers and wholesalers are licensed while the LCBO, BRI and winery stores remain in business in direct competition

Now I’d like to look at the advantages and disadvantages of each of these systems, especially in terms of the five factors (listed above) that need to be maintained or enhanced.  I’m going to skip a discussion of social responsibility and recycling since both of these can be handled by legislation and enforcement policies that are essentially independent of the distribution and sales model.  The focus is really on value to the customer and value to the taxpayer, with a nod to access to Ontario products.  A summary is provided in the next table, following which I’ll elaborate on some of the most interesting or controversial points (Note:  in this table the advantages are in bold while the disadvantages are in italic).

System OptionValue to the CustomerValue to the TaxpayerAccess to Ontario Products
1 - LicensingImproved price and selection through competition;
Limits on number of retail outlets may limit specialty retailers;
Minimum pricing policy may limit consumer advantage.
Increased revenue (est'd. $200M/year);
Removes operational and investment risks from having government in the retail business.

Improved access to the system for small producers.
2 - Retain &
Improve
No improvement and prices may even rise.Politically easy - no disruption;
Potential for increased revenue through reduced costs and increased prices;

Government remains in retail with associated risks and investment requirements.
No improvement.
3 - DivestmentNo improvement in competitive landscape, pricing or convenience.Big chunk of change for the government;
But, payment is one-time only;
Government remains in retail with associated risks and investment requirements.
Uncertain pricing and access for small producers.
4 - Joint
Venture
No improvement in pricing or convenience;
Competition landscape even worse that at present.
Rationalization of store locations and product offerings, providing operational efficiency;
Government remains in retail with associated risks and investment requirements.
No improvement.
5 - CompetitionIncreased competition;
Improved pricing, selection, and access.
Increased government revenue;
Complete restructuring not required.

Profitability of LCBO uncertain as competitors would have much lower operating costs and LCBO cannot easily transform its very high cost structure;
Government remains in retail with associated risks and investment requirements.
Improved access to the system for small producers.

The only two options that are advantageous to the consumer are 1-Licensing and 5-Competition (which includes licensing but does not eliminate the LCBO).  I have always been a proponent of the Competition option because it seemed to provide the best of everything.  Perhaps that was at least in part because I was tired of hearing the LCBO constantly telling us how good they are.  If they are so superior, then there should be no problem permitting competition because the LCBO would just grind their competitors into the ground!  Now, however, I have been set straight by the BASRP.  They assert that the LCBO cost structure is so heavy, with gold-plated stores and unionized staff being paid top dollar for stocking shelves, that they would fold under the pressures of real competition.  This drives home the point that the government should not be in the retail business in the first place.

The recommended option is Licensing.  In this scenario, the government sells off the LCBO’s physical assets and then auctions licences to private concerns for the right to retail or to wholesale beverage alcohol.  Because the licences would expire after five years and bidding would again take place, and because there would also be annual fees, the panel estimated that the LCBO would net $200 million more than they currently make.  That was in 2005 so the figure would likely be higher now.  The two most important requirements, consumer value and taxpayer value, are both satisfied.  Now, in order to deal with the other requirements,especially social responsibility, the panel does suggest imposing some restrictions.

First, they propose an upper limit on the number of retailers allowed, both within a region and within the province as a whole.  This idea is intended to allay concerns over social responsibility, as they claim that fewer retail outlets reduce consumption.  However, their own data does not appear to support that claim.  The following graph plots consumption/person/year versus population per retail outlet for many of the external jurisdictions that were studied.  If the claim were true, then the data should show a clear drop moving from left to right.  In fact, the data fall into three groups.

Dependency of alcohol consumption on number of retail outlets. Greater population/outlet means fewer outlets (right end of axis). The data fit into three general groups but there is no overall trend.

The data fall into three main groups.  Group 1 (Iowa and Quebec at the bottom, UK and Australia at the top) shows the opposite trend to what might be expected – this trend likely has more to do with cultural differences than with access to supply.  The bulk of the jurisdictions (several US states plus New Zealand) fall into Group 2 where there is no discernible correlation.  Finally, Group 3 (all of which are Canadian provinces) shows relatively low consumption rates but almost no dependence on accessibility.  In fact, government controlled Ontario, at 760,000 people per access point, had the same consumption rate as the fully private system in New York state, at 95,000 per access point.  Once again, the position of Group 3 on the graph is likely a result of culture (since they are all the same country) rather than any direct correlation.  All in all, there does not appear to be a strong reason for limiting the number of retail outlets.  But, if that helps with making a change in the system politically palatable, then OK.  It’s something that can easily be fine tuned at a later date.

The other important restriction is to set a price floor.  This is trickier.  Like it or not, it is perfectly reasonable for a licensing body to restrict the number of licences.  However, price control of private industry is another matter entirely.  Now, if there is a flat minimum price in order to prevent a lot of “two-buck Chucks” from appearing, then the situation is not too bad because that is the market space where cheap booze could be an issue.  But if it is the markup that is regulated, then it’s a different problem.  Then there is little chance for price competition, case discounts, and sale prices, even for premium products where mass market over-consumption is much less of a concern.  Value to the consumer is significantly impaired.

Still, even with these flaws, the recommendations of the BASRP would be a huge improvement over the current situation.  Let’s put these proposals back on the table.  Let your MPP know what you think, for example through MyWineShop.ca.  Turn this private affair into a public discussion.

The Select Few

In an earlier post, I promised that I would make the effort to say some good things about the LCBO.  So here is my list (although some items still have qualifiers…oh, well):

  1. There is a reasonably wide selection from all parts of the world with no one region or country especially favoured, in contrast, for example, to the preponderance of French wines in the SAQ (Quebec).  Of course, this even-handedness even extends to Ontario and other Canadian wine, which is a bit odd.  Imagine a wine shop in Bordeaux not having a comprehensive Bordeaux section!
  2. Continuing with the Bordeaux theme, the LCBO provides good access to Bordeaux futures, with only a 25% deposit, compared to the 100% demanded elsewhere (e.g. in the U.S.)
  3. Thorough technical testing and a generous take-back policy ensure that very little contaminated or adulterated wine appears on the shelves.  On the other hand, the take-back policy is only generous to the customer.  The little-known requirement making the supplier pay back the full retail cost on returns is unconscionable (look here to see how the LCBO instructs agents to pay for all costs associated with “defective” product).
  4. Food and Drink magazine, at least from a consumer viewpoint, is a well put-together publication, although it is bad news for the rest of the magazine publishing industry, who must put up with a subsidized competitor.

All right, with that out of the way, let’s get on with this post, in which I want to take a closer look at point number 1 – selection.  In order to get a better feel for the breadth of the selection at your neighbourhood LCBO, try these experiments the next time you cross its threshold:

  • Ask to see the Vintages German wine section.  You’ll likely only find a couple of bins.  After years of suffering through post-Liebfraumilch trauma, German wines, and Riesling in particular, are finally experiencing a renaissance in most of the wine-drinking world.  Try telling that to the LCBO.  German wines don’t fall into their wine world view of massive overextracted “blockbusters” that earn 90+ points from all the “right” critics.
  • Now try to get a decent half bottle of wine.  For a real laugh, look for a half bottle of good German wine!
  • Next, let’s say there is a claret or a Chianti Classico that you find you really enjoy.  Try to find a vintage other than the current one in the store.  In fact, in the regular listings section, wines are not catalogued by vintage.  As the vintage changes, the CSPC does not – they don’t care.  For the LCBO, wine is a commodity – after all, the SKU on a light bulb doesn’t change from year to year.
  • For an additional whimper, visit your neighbourhood delicatessen or other specialty food shop.  In Europe, in many parts of the USA, and in most of the rest of the civilized world, that shop would include an inviting wall of fine wines to accompany the excellent breads, cheeses, sauces, and charcuterie…sigh.  Unfortunately, we’re stuck with a monopoly. Yes, private specialty stores would add immeasurably to the selection of wines available to the Ontario consumer, but privatization is a whole other topic that I will address in a later post.  In the meantime, it is still relevant to this discussion.

So why is the selection at the LCBO so inadequate?  Or is it?  After all, the management will try to tell you how many thousands of separate listings they have in order to prove they have a wide selection.  But that’s equivalent to a ladies’ wear shop telling you that they have a large number of distinct items of apparel, so you’ll find everything you ever want in their shop and you should never need to enter another store.  In other words, the biggest and most obvious reason is:  it’s a monopoly.  Their selection would be laudable if they were simply one chain competing against many other shops and chains with their own selections and specializations.  But, outside of Ontario winery stores, those don’t exist.

However, the study of economics tells us that it is possible for monopolies to provide us with a very wide selection.  Competitors generally focus on the high volume, high profit lines to stay in business and may ignore small volume specialty products and their niche markets.  A monopoly, on the other hand, can afford to stock a wide range of products satisfying all markets.  Satisfying niche markets will actually increase their revenues and profits beyond the high runners.  In an attempt to be somewhat even-handed, I should say that you can, in fact, see evidence of these trends in the Canadian wine retailing business.  In Alberta there are periodic complaints about the lack of selection in many shops, although there are also high quality retailers in the major markets.  On the other hand, the LCBO monopoly does broaden its market appeal through its Vintages section.  Now they could do a lot better if their own policies and practices didn’t hold them back.

One example is the requirement that any one wine must be acquired in sufficient quantities to be made available throughout the province, at least at the level of Vintages locations.  That practice sets a lower limit on quantity and effectively shuts many of the small quality producers out of the Ontario market.  There is a solution to this problem – allow Product Consultants to list wines (and other products) in their own store up to some maximum value (e.g. 5-10% of their Vintages Corner budget).  These wines could come from agents’ stocks, or there could be a modest budget to allow PC’s to travel once or twice a year to wine regions and to make their own selections.  These wines would then go through a process similar to that undergone by any private importer to ensure that they meet LCBO standards.  This procedure would also see more limited production Ontario wines make it to the store shelves.

Let me toss out another issue that affects selection.  The LCBO seems to be fixated on highly manipulated fruit-forward wines and tends to play down the more terroir-driven food-friendly wines that are making a comeback elsewhere.  I have some evidence to support that statement as I recently put together an extensive list of producers of so-called natural or authentic wines (at least those that have some visibility internationally).  I came up with 1667 distinct wines from 361 producers.  Then I checked for availability – only 46 wines were listed with the LCBO while 117 could be found at the SAQ.  Oh well, at least we can now transport wine legally across provincial borders!  Check out Free My Grapes.

In the end, the only real solution will be private competition.  Don’t hold your breath.

Mission LCBO

I’ll have a lot to say about the LCBO in future – some of it is even good!  But first it’s worthwhile to try and understand why it is here at all and what it is trying to do.  The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (the quasi-monopoly responsible for retail alcohol sales in Ontario) was formed after the repeal of the Ontario Temperance Act (“Prohibition”) in 1927 – more about that in future.  That’s why “Control” is so prominent in the name.  Surely that’s all changed after more than 80 years!  What is their mission now?  I’ll bet very few of you have any idea what it might be, in part because it’s so contradictory.  While they still have the mandate to control and restrict the sale of alcohol, they are also a major retail organization with the need to maximize sales and profits.  According to the LCBO website, its mission statement is:

“We are a socially responsible, performance-driven, innovative and profitable retailer, engaging our customers in a discovery experience of the world of beverage alcohol.”

Clearly the fourth point (“profitable”) is the most important because the very next paragraph boasts that:

“Sales in fiscal 2010-11 were $4.55 billion and the LCBO delivered a $1.55 billion dividend to the Ontario government.”

OK, no wonder a mind-numbingly long succession of Ontario governments have chosen to do next to nothing to reform or replace the LCBO – they love the money too much.  So what about their number one mission objective – “social responsibility?”  That phrase primarily means preventing alcohol sales to minors while incidentally campaigning against drinking and driving and so forth.  So how are they doing?  Well, a recently published study sent out secret shoppers, both underage (15-18) and legal age (19-24), to the government run LCBO, the privately operated Beer Store chain, and privately owned convenience stores (purchasing cigarettes in this case), in order to test their dedication to the prevention of underage drinking.  The results were:  convenience stores only sold to minors 1 time in 8; the Beer Store record was 1 in 5; and the LCBO came dead last at 1 in 4.  There was a similar trend, in terms of carding, for the legal age customers.  Oops.

The other mission objectives are to be performance-driven and innovative.  For performance-driven, read “profit maximization” (see above.)  As for innovation, not much has happened since the requirement was dropped that every drinker in the province had to be licensed and under surveillance (for more information, check out the Punched Drunk website), and since the service model evolved from purchase order forms and a furtive booze-in-a-paper bag philosophy to normal retail self-serve.  Sure, they’ve added some new purchasing vehicles over the years (Classics catalogue, Shop Online, etc.), but what about evolving the stores to resemble normal retail wine stores elsewhere in the world, with case discounts, sale prices on more than bin-ends, quality in-store tasting events, and delegation of some power to product consultants so they can stock independently?

But reform will be hard.  Successive political parties have always made noise about how the LCBO should be privatized and liquor laws modernized, while they were in opposition.   But as soon as they get into government, they can’t resist the profits.  As usual, when trying to understand human behaviour, remember Jerry Maguire’s immortal words:  “Follow the money.”

P.S. – For  more on the subject, check out the latest newsletter from Michael Pinkus, the Grape Guy, at OntarioWineReview.com.