The Bar Towel

Hope everyone's stocks of bourbon are good. Buy local!

https://x.com/fordnation/status/1886044429212926331

Every year, LCBO sells nearly $1 billion worth of American wine, beer, spirits and seltzers. Not anymore.

Starting Tuesday, we’re removing American products from LCBO shelves. As the only wholesaler of alcohol in the province, LCBO will also remove American products from its catalogue so other Ontario-based restaurants and retailers can’t order or restock U.S. products.

There’s never been a better time to choose an amazing Ontario-made or Canadian-made product. As always, please drink responsibly.

Personally I am hopeful that this prompts people to take a closer look at the sources and ethics of all of their purchases, not just alcohol. Not holding my breath on that actually happening, but I am hopeful.

Our oligarchs have taken so much that we lack the discretionary dollars that we should have if corporate power was limited to a reasonable level.

That shelf space would look great with some Canadian stuff.

Hoping the inter provincial trade barriers come down as a result of this nonsense. I'd love to see some Quebec and BC stuff in that shelf space opening up.

Craig wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:27 pm I'd love to see some Quebec and BC stuff in that shelf space opening up.

That and the possibility of ordering direct from out of province breweries.

Craig wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:27 pm Hoping the inter provincial trade barriers come down as a result of this nonsense. I'd love to see some Quebec and BC stuff in that shelf space opening up.

Hope so indeed. Covid brought about all the take out stuff, hopefully this can spark that.

There was an article recently (I think in the Globe) that covered this and spoke to a brewer or two in Ottawa, who wanted to be able to sell kegs to bars on the other side. That would be a nice change as well.

Cass wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:19 am

Craig wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:27 pm Hoping the inter provincial trade barriers come down as a result of this nonsense. I'd love to see some Quebec and BC stuff in that shelf space opening up.

Hope so indeed. Covid brought about all the take out stuff, hopefully this can spark that.

There was an article recently (I think in the Globe) that covered this and spoke to a brewer or two in Ottawa, who wanted to be able to sell kegs to bars on the other side. That would be a nice change as well.

Financial Post covered this: https://financialpost.com/news/economy/ ... e-barriers

And now Poilievre is endorsing it: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/ ... riff-havoc

shintriad wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2025 12:54 am And now Poilievre is endorsing it: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/ ... riff-havoc

This is just PP being a political opportunist again. There's nothing the Federal government can do unless they want to put their hands on the constitutional third rail. Championing for this is fine, but too many people will see it as a promise, which is mighty convenient for him. Spin in the midst of crisis. It's a shame.

Now Donald Ford (AKA Captain Canada), on the other hand, could show some leadership and work to tear down the barriers to entry to Ontario, which is one of the worst offenders among the provinces.

S. St. Jeb wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 9:44 pm

Craig wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:27 pm I'd love to see some Quebec and BC stuff in that shelf space opening up.

That and the possibility of ordering direct from out of province breweries.

I've always wondered how my brother regularly orders wine from Blasted Church in BC to Ontario, but no breweries outside of Ontario will ship here.

beerstodiscover wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:09 pm I've always wondered how my brother regularly orders wine from Blasted Church in BC to Ontario, but no breweries outside of Ontario will ship here.

I've seen some breweries (a couple in the east IIRC) that will ship to Ontario through their web stores. I don't think it's technically legal, as beer needs to pass through the LCBO when crossing the provincial border, but they do it anyway and take the chance. It would seem like an easy change to allow for cross-border shipping, at least for personal consumption.

Cass wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 8:51 am

beerstodiscover wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:09 pm I've always wondered how my brother regularly orders wine from Blasted Church in BC to Ontario, but no breweries outside of Ontario will ship here.

I've seen some breweries (a couple in the east IIRC) that will ship to Ontario through their web stores. I don't think it's technically legal, as beer needs to pass through the LCBO when crossing the provincial border, but they do it anyway and take the chance. It would seem like an easy change to allow for cross-border shipping, at least for personal consumption.

It might also force a conversation that provinces don't want to have.

There was that case from Quebec/New Brunswick that seemed to be in the news for a while and got a lot of coverage because of the legal challenge. Funnily called "free the beer".

anthony9 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 11:18 am There was that case from Quebec/New Brunswick that seemed to be in the news for a while and got a lot of coverage because of the legal challenge. Funnily called "free the beer".

I always felt that was kind of like a "populist" beer story because it was some old man who wanted to buy cheap macro beer. It was more about provincial tax rates than helping the beer industry through dismantling trade restrictions.

Like COVID, there's an angle around breaking down barriers to help small businesses succeed inter-provincially, but the protectionist counter argument would definitely arise.

Cass wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 11:25 am

anthony9 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 11:18 am There was that case from Quebec/New Brunswick that seemed to be in the news for a while and got a lot of coverage because of the legal challenge. Funnily called "free the beer".

I always felt that was kind of like a "populist" beer story because it was some old man who wanted to buy cheap macro beer. It was more about provincial tax rates than helping the beer industry through dismantling trade restrictions.

Like COVID, there's an angle around breaking down barriers to help small businesses succeed inter-provincially, but the protectionist counter argument would definitely arise.

I think you're right, but I believe any conversation involving beer and provincial borders is a good and helpful one.

anthony9 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 11:49 am I think you're right, but I believe any conversation involving beer and provincial borders is a good and helpful one.

Definitely - any awareness to the issue is a good thing to educate folks.

Interview with Mark & Mandie from Left Field by Josh in the Star about the tariff issues:

https://www.thestar.com/business/trump- ... c6f22.html