Ontario beer drinkers can expect to see prices rise if sales are allowed in convenience stores, according to a new study carried out for the province’s Beer Store.
The study, to be released Monday at the Toronto Board of Trade, says consumers can expect to pay about $10 more for a 24-pack of beer if the Beer Store’s monopoly ends.
The study says privatization in Alberta and British Columbia led to higher prices in those provinces. It also calculates that, if Ontario had followed Alberta’s lead on beer sales, the Ontario government would have missed out on $5.4 billion in revenue over the past 20 years.
Lower prices as a result of privatization “have never been experienced elsewhere and they are unlikely to be experienced here in Ontario,” the study says.
“You’re going to increase the outlets for the same customer base and that’s going to raise your average cost,” said Greg Flanagan, the economist commissioned to carry out the study for the Beer Store, in an interview with the Toronto Sun.
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Historic Canadian Beer Labels
The Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) put out a poll last year showing 69 per cent of Ontarians would like to see private retailers allowed to sell beer.
Ontarians “believe we’re living with 1927 archaic alcohol laws and no one can understand why the government’s protecting a full-on beer monopoly in Ontario,” OCSA president Dave Bryans said.
But he noted that retailers aren’t promising lower prices. “The Ontario Convenience Stores Association has never advocated that we were going to offer cheap beer to anybody,” he told the Sun.
The Beer Store is owned by a conglomerate of brewers including Molson-Coors, Labatt (now owned by Belgian concern Anheuser-Busch InBev) and Sleeman Breweries. Along with the LCBO, it enjoys a near-monopoly on store sales of beer in Ontario.
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has made ending the Beer Store’s monopoly a part of his election platform. The move has largely been opposed by the ruling Liberals.
What do you think? Will beer prices go up if the Beer Store's monopoly ends, or are they trying to scare us into sticking with the Beer Store? Let us know in the comments section.
Read the full report (posted to Scrib by Canada.com):