The Ontario PC Party is promising to remove the minimum retail price on alcohol and some Ontarians aren’t too buzzed about the idea.
The promise is part of the party’s $40 billion platform and is meant to protect taxpayers, according to the PC’s official platform site.
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Currently, the minimum retail price for spirits vary by size and alcohol content, but under a re-elected PC party the LCBO could potentially price items as low as it wants.
“That’s the taxpayers’ money, it’s putting money back into people’s pockets,” PC Party leader Doug Ford explained, while speaking to reporters at a campaign stop in Toronto on Feb. 24.
“Under the liberals, they would say you have to charge this much, because if you don’t charge too much then people would drink too much, that’s the biggest joke I’ve ever heard,” he said.
Ford is no stranger to putting alcohol at the forefront of his campaigns – having famously championed for ‘buck-a-beer’ by setting the floor price for beer at $1 during the 2018 provincial election, and recently made beer, cider, wine and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages available in licensed convenience stores.
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As the PC’s serve up another round of alcohol promises, Ontarians took to social media to air their frustrations and distaste.
One X user wrote “how about we focus on health care instead of booze.”
Another user went on to say “I’m starting to think someone has a drinking problem.”
“It’s always Booze with this guy,” another X user wrote.
Some Ontarians believe the promise fails to keep everyone in mind.
“Once again with the Booze promises, not everyone drinks you know,” one user wrote.
Ford defended the idea and pointed towards provinces like Quebec and Alberta that don’t impose minimum retail prices on alcohol.
“So, why do we have to have a base? Let’s reduce the cost of that, put more money back into people’s pockets again,” he said. “That’s like a tax break.”
The Ontario election is set for Feb. 27.
