Doug Ford says he won’t budge on ready-to-drink beverages amid LCBO strike: “That ship has sailed”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday urged the union representing 9,000 striking LCBO workers to get back to the bargaining table.

Ford said his government will not back down on its plan to expand alcohol sales in the province, including ready-to-drink beverages (RTD), into more retail spaces, saying, “that ship has sailed, it's halfway across Lake Ontario.”

The Ontario Public Sector Employees’ Union (OPSEU) argues that the province is jeopardizing the $2.5 billion in public revenue by introducing thousands of private retailers into the alcohol distribution network.

However, Ford says RTD sales account for “a very small percentage of overall sales.”

The premier said the strike “should never ever have happened,” and suggested that employees were not shown the deal put forward by the province before LCBO workers went on strike on July 5 – shuttering hundreds of stores across the province.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/10614393/ontario-alcohol-coolers-lcbo-strike/
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