By Kerry Kelly
In a recent T2V ad campaign, employees of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) aimed for the hearts of Ontarians preaching the reasons why the LCBO should be kept up and running.
The main reason, they argue, is that the LCBO is more stringent in refusing to sell alcohol to minors and intoxicated customers than any corner store would be.
There are other reasons, of course, which have more to do with the wallet than the heart.
Privatization means the threat of layoffs, and maybe the threat of higher prices.
But whatever the reasons, there seems to be little LCBO employees need to worry about.
The Conservative government promised to privatize the LCBO, along with TV Ontario and Ontario Hydro, as it romanced the business sector during the 1995 election campaign. But that promise remains unresolved.
When elected, Premier Mike Harris said a commission would consider private sector involvement and to report within six months.
Over two and a half years after the Tories came to power, the commission has still not issued a report, and the province’s 598 LCBO stores are still going full speed ahead.
Maurice Simms, an information officer with the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations, says while there have been changes within the LCBO, no significant moves towards privatization have been made yet.
“The government has been dealing with education issues and health care issues,” says Simms.
“This is a priority but it’s not as high up, the government has been pretty busy.”
According to the Ontario Liquor Board’s Employees Union, the government is making time to try and keep its 1995 election promise.
The pressure is on to prove to the Tories’ big business supporters the Harris government will keep its word as the next provincial election fast approaches.
On the union’s toll-free line, a message says the long-overdue commission report on privatization will be given to Consumer and Commercial Relations Minister David Tsubouchi this month. And the report’s proposals will be voted on by Cabinet in April.
With concerns over social responsibility and job security, it’s obvious why parents and union employees think the LCBO should remain a government agency.
But why the Harris government would want to tamper with one of its few profitable agencies is a mystery.
That they might do it to save face is a disgrace.
If privatization goes ahead, the government still wants to have a say in where liquor can be produced, and who can produce it.
But they want to open up the retail of alcohol to the free market to increase price competitiveness and selection. Or so they said during the election.
Simms says modernizing the LCBO is the real goal, and privatization may not be across- the-board.
The ministry is considering privatizing smaller stores, but when, and to what extent privatization will take place, is still unsure.
Simms says Ontarians have to be consulted before the details can be determined.
“Nothing will happen without a lot of public debate,” he says.
That debate has already started.
The LCBO union members are not the only ones who have voiced negative feelings about privatization.
Last April, Mother’s Against Drunk Driving held a presentation at City Hall with the support of Coun. Linda Davis. Members of MADD are against privatization because they believe an open market for liquor will make it difficult to monitor the age of people buying it at a corner store.
Simms says privatization was never intended “to sell (liquor) at a Mac’s or Becker’s. The government was never thinking of the corner store.”
If Ontarians aren’t going to get the same convenience of liquor shopping that Albertans and Quebecers enjoy, where the free market rules, the cons of privatization start to seriously outweigh the pros, especially when the government has no handle on the mechanics of it.
Simms says the government is now unsure of the role it wants to play in controlling liquor in the province, or who will own the stores.
What is certain is the fact that the LCBO is currently a cash cow for the province. In 1993, the LCBO generated over $800 million before taxes.
While the Common Sense Approach proposal states that sales have declined a bit in the early 90s, last year’s sales still came to a hefty $701 million.
The government also stated, “it would be unwise for any privatization transaction to jeopardize these revenues.”
How does the government plan to make up for the loss of over $700 million? The Tories are cutting social service programs left, right and centre.
The idea that it would eliminate a self-sufficient organization that brings in a ton of revenue just to save face doesn’t make sense, common or otherwise.
So, the LCBO union can go on melting our hearts with crafty commercials, and mothers can continue protesting at city hall.
It seems that for the foreseeable future, the only threat they face from the Ontario government in regards to the LCBO, is windburn from all that hot air.