the ej
By Konrad Ejbich
Put a Cork in It Time to end KGBO’s social gag order
Work with
We seek eager ad sales reps to join our team. Email info@citybites.ca.
Since 1985 FOR THE SERIOUS B.B.Q
In house gourmet burgers and sausages.
Naturally raised grass, hay, clover, grain & potato fed H.A. free (Super Awesome!) P.E.I. BEEF. purveyors of local, hormone and antibiotic-free beef, pork and chicken
1968 DANFORTH AVE. 416-421-1029 WWW.ROYALBEEF.CA
Changes in government may come quickly, but changes in government thinking do not. No matter which party is in power, politicians tend to think of alcohol as their exclusive golden goose. And a golden goose it is. Last year, the government received a $1.56 billion dividend from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (KGBO) on sales of $4.6 billion. Now, a new report submitted by economist Don Drummond proposes that Ontario “aggressively pursue” the building of more stores to increase access to alcohol to boost sales and profits. He also recommends raising excise taxes on liquor and selling off the liquor board’s head office building, located on the lakefront next door to the Toronto Star building. Drummond concludes this land is simply too valuable to waste on government pencil-pushers. Recently, in his year-end statement, provincial auditor-general Jim McCarter told the province to order KGBO buyers to squeeze suppliers harder to get better pricing. McCarter also advised keeping retail wine prices high to skim more dollars for Ontario’s coffers. Both of these number-crunchers appear to have completely missed the boat. Looking for more ways to bleed cash from Ontario wineries is tantamount to strip-searching a homeless person for small change. Drummond claimed everything was on the table. Well, sir, the real money comes with privatization. Alberta privatized liquor sales 20 years ago. The overnight change did not result in rampant drunkenness, increased crime, a spike in unemployment, or greater access to alcohol for minors. Social anarchy, it appears, is not an issue in Canada. Alberta also discovered there’s even more money to be made by leaving the liquor business to the private sector while focusing on good governance and just taxation. From a strictly financial point of view, it makes sense to dump the KGBO. If you think $200 million is a lot of money for one square block of land on Toronto’s lakefront, imagine how much revenue could be saved by killing the enormous property rental payments made every month on 600 retail outlets in the primest-of-prime locations all across the province. And don’t think those stores come empty. The bottles that are stocked inside each store would easily fetch a hefty price. Next, by eliminating the wages and benefits of almost 4000 employees, our savings would stretch beyond the millions. According to last year’s provincial government salaries list almost 250 KGBO staffers are paid more than $100,000. Do we need a chief executive officer taking home more than $400,000 of the people’s money? “Lost jobs” would not increase provincial unemployment. Those people would end up working in similar positions in the private sector with a wine beer or spirit agency or private retailer. Maybe not at $100,000 per year, but certainly at a fair wage. Much money would also be saved that’s currently spent (extravagantly) on building topof-the-line retail spaces in high-end malls. The KGBO is a monopoly, for goodness sake. It doesn’t need bleached oak and marble to attract thirsty consumers. If they peddled booze from the back of a rusty dumpster, we’d still be buying. As for lost revenue for government coffers? It’s a myth and a lie, spread by both KGBO management as well as the unions they manage. The province can have its cake and eat it too by giving private enterprise all the risks, costs and administration, and having business collect the taxes to hand over to the treasury, just as it does with drugs, cigarettes and gasoline. Government’s mandate is to license, regulate, inspect and control quality and audit businesses, while the role of private enterprise should by to carry out the day-to-day activities of selecting, importing, warehousing, distributing and selling wines, beers and spirits in the province. Konrad ejbich is a member of In the clearest terms, government the Wine Writer’s Circle of Canada. should focus on governing, so the rest He answers caller questions on CBC of us can mind our own business... Radio’s Ontario Today. He’s currently and that should include the liquor updating his Pocket Guide to Ontario Wines, Wineries, Vineyards & Vines. business. CB Follow twitter.com/WineZone
32
CityBites