TORONTO – Expanding liquor sales beyond the LCBO and Beer Store would increase revenue from sales to the provincial government according to a new study.
The study was released by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA), which has been lobbying the provincial government recently for an end to the government’s monopoly on liquor sales.
The OCSA suggests that by expanding private sales in Ontario the provincial government could preserve the current $1.6 billion annual profit while lowering costs.
Increased competition with private retailers would force the LCBO to lower retail costs, according to the OCSA, which could increase sales.
The taxes on the booze however, would stay the same.
The study, conducted by Professor Anindya Sen, an associate professor of economics at the University of Waterloo, compares provincial liquor sales in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba do not allow the private sale of alcohol while Alberta’s liquor stores are entirely privatized and British Columbia has both private and public liquor sales.
In 2003, the government of British Columbia moved to the mixed-sale – both public and private – of alcohol, and according to the study, has since had increased incomes to the government-run liquor control authorities.
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