Samantha Bee's best running joke about Canada during her time on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was about the Beer Store.
Doug Ford wants to fulfill a campaign promise to get beer and wine into local stores in Ontario. We are normally all in on campaign promises but by doing so early, there is a $225 million penalty of Ontario tax money that would go to the alcohol companies that run the Beer Store. The LCBO (wine) has a different structure in terms of penalties.
The $225 million penalty is bad enough but the list of related costs will likely total hundreds of millions more. If Ford waits until 2025, when the contract runs out, then there is no $225 million penalty. Ontario doesn't have to go to the polls until 2026. So why would Ford do this … now?
Is Doug Ford’s $225M booze plan worth it? (Front Burner)
British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick have to go to the polls in 2024. All of them are scheduled for October. We thought New Brunswick might roll the dice and go early. Saskatchewan isn't likely to flip and British Columbia is more unknown.
2024 is not likely a year where a government wants to go up for re-election. Food prices, housing troubles, and trouble finding a family doctor would be at the top of the list. Why would Doug Ford voluntarily go up against this tide?
The better question is why is Doug Ford obsessed with alcohol since his time in office since 2018?
Buck a beer, Ontario News Now: Doug Ford in motion
If you are a conservative, you likely looked at the provincial alcohol distribution method and thought, "when we get to power, we should destroy this." A whole lot less tax revenue but the elimination of bureaucracy. The taxpayer money to the big breweries is a payout from Ford and his cronies. Think of it as foam on top of a beer mug.
Ford portrays these moves as blue collar and for "the working man." They aren't but the opposition hasn't made an impact in saying otherwise.
Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie puts the price tag at $1 billion. Even if you throw out both estimates, the truth lies closer to the Liberals than the Progressive Conservatives.
NDP leader Marit Stiles, the official opposition leader, noted that these costs come as "emergency rooms are closing, millions of Ontarians are without a family doctor and our shelters are at capacity."
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said, "people need the government to fast-track funding for housing affordability and health care instead of giving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to The Beer Store to speed up a timeline they announced just five months ago."
Doug Ford and the PCs win a second term in Ontario
2022 Ontario election notebook: Why the election has been so meh
Our Doug Ford Ontario coverage since 2018
Unlike the other provinces that will have elections in 2024, Doug Ford isn't as worried about going back on not developing the Greenbelt or the damage done in the province through intentional and unintentional actions.
The government spends $ on ads going after their opponents, since they still have little name recognition. That recognition is code to journalists not to take them seriously. Other than Schreiner, Ford has run against women, even down to Christine Elliott for the PC leadership race. That may seem insignificant but I think that is a factor in some voters' eyes.
"The exact cost doesn’t matter. It's a bizarre use of money in any case, especially since the existing deal was expiring next year anyway. This isn't fiscally prudent, and it's not the best use of taxpayer money. There's no serious argument that it is or could be."
Journalist Matt Gurney at TVO weighed in on the beer deal in this column. The odd part is that Gurney is in favour of the deal, despite this quote. This might sum up the whole discussion.
2022 Ontario election preview
2024 Canadian politics preview
Canadian politics coverage on CanadianCrossing.com
CanadianCrossing.com Ontario coverage
Your humble narrator was mystified at how well Ford is running for a second term as premier and how Canadian journalism treated the election like everything was a foregone conclusion and the necessary focus on issues was missing.
The beer decision may be popular but the loss of tax money is a great concern, long after Ford is no longer the premier.
If there is an early election, hoping for an Ontario constituency to ask needed questions in a democracy. Why was valuable taxpayer money wasted on getting beer into convenience stores a year early would be a start.
video and photo credit: CBC News
Comments