Government shouldn't be in the booze biz; The end of Ontario's liquor monopoly can't come soon enough

It's enough to drive you to drink. We just don't get it here in Ontario. Well into the year 2008, almost a hundred years since Prohibition, the lasting hangover of government-run liquor boards still lingers.

It's not the government's fault. It's our fault for letting government after government get away with it in this province for this long. Here's a serious sober thought: The government has no business deciding what you or I have to drink. It has no right, and there is no reason, for it to be in the business of pushing, promoting or pricing booze be it wine, beer or liquor.

We were reminded of this yet again last week when the LCBO admittedly goofed when it ran an ad in a beautiful full-colour glossy magazine (paid for by the good people of Ontario) suggesting that we all do our part for the environment by buying local. The trouble was the ad featured a "cellared in Canada" wine that gets most of its juice from anywhere but Canada. It's an easy mistake for the bureaucrats at Queen's Park to make. They have always confused consumers with "cellared in Canada" and VQA wines. The former are wines bottled in Canada but not necessarily made from wine made in Canada. The latter are 100 per cent Canadian wines.

Go into any government liquor store and it's very difficult to tell the difference between the two. Producers of cellared in Canada wines don't even do the courtesy of telling consumers where the wine in that bottle is coming from (do they even know?). Which could be Chile, or France, or Australia, or California, or Spain with just a minority of the grapes from somewhere in Canada. One can't help but think it's high time to get the government out of the liquor stores.

There is something very sad about a taxpayer-funded agency producing glossy magazines and running promotions for foreign-produced products such as French wines, Italian wines and wines from virtually every wine region in the world. Look no further than the latest on-line release and promotion of the Vintages Catalogue, promoted and produced by the LCBO.

Hundreds and hundreds of wines are offered up for sale to consumers - great wines from Italy, France, Spain, California, Australia and Chile. As for Canada? There are two brands: Le Clos Jordanne in Niagara and Mission Hill from the Okanagan Valley.

Is this what we want from our government? I think not. I think it is time to turn the business of booze over to the people who know best how to run a business. The government and its agents should not be selling consumer products. They should reap the benefit from the taxes from those products. And they should set standards and guidelines for the sale of those products. But it is high time to let private enterprise run the business of buying and selling alcohol in this province.

Sell off the big, over-priced Vintages stores. Get rid of the LCBO stores that all look exactly alike anyway. Get rid of them all, sell them to the private sector, collect those taxes and let entrepreneurs do their thing.

For us in Niagara it would mean wine stores overflowing with good, Niagara wines. Not just the Niagara wines that the LCBO has decided we can sell, but all Niagara wines big and small. And if people want wines from France and elsewhere, a smart business person would do well to have those on hand as well.

It would also mean competitive pricing. And, I dare say, better pricing. Just look at Alberta. A $15 bottle of wine can range in price from $10 at SuperStore or Costco to $20 at a high-end shop with knowledgeable staff.

It's a beautiful world out there. Long gone are the days of Prohibition - if you just look beyond the borders of Ontario and a couple of other antiquated provinces.

There will be a day when the people of Ontario finally give the boot to the government liquor monopoly. For wine lovers, it couldn't come soon enough.

Rick VanSickle is The Standard's city editor and a freelance wine writer.

Articles by Rick Van Sickle www.littlefatwino.com