Report on grocery wine expected by Christmas
Architect of beer expansion hopes vino recommendations will be ready in December
Ed Clark is hoping to uncork some good news for wine drinkers before Christmas.
Premier Kathleen Wynne’s assets adviser, architect of the expansion of beer sales in grocery stores, said his blueprint for getting more wine on grocery store shelves should be completed within the next eight weeks.
“We’re working at it,” Clark, the former TD Bank CEO, said in an interview Thursday.
“Still shooting that I can open a bottle of wine and not have to worry about whose wine I’m drinking on Christmas,” he said with a laugh. “So that’s our target date.”
Clark, who also recommended the government’s sell-off of Hydro One now underway, admitted bringing wine to supermarkets is even more challenging than it was clearing the way for beer sales that begin later this fall. “It’s the same old bucket of issues,” he said, referring to the international trade complications posed by shaking up the system.
Ontario’s privately owned Wine Rack and Wine Shop kiosks now operating inside many supermarkets have “grandfathered licences” that are exempt from the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Those 268 licensees are permitted to sell quality VQA wine made here as well as foreign-blended bulk plonk bottled in Ontario.
But those valuable licences, which benefit some domestic producers, could be at risk if Clark permits wideopen sales.
The provincially owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has a retail monopoly on quality wines from France, Italy, Spain, the United States, Australia, Argentina and other countries.
So Clark must devise a compromise that does not undermine the moneymaking Liquor Store chain or Ontario winemakers, while improving choice for consumers.
Along with a template for grocery wine sales, the premier’s unpaid business adviser is working on a modernization plan for the LCBO, which will continue to enjoy a monopoly on retail spirits. Once he completes his wine report, Clark is expected to also unveil a template for modernizing the LCBO, which will continue to be the only retail outlet for spirits in the province.
He has already suggested he will be recommending more online sales, new specialty wine and liquor boutiques, and service improvements.
If he meets his Christmas deadline, wine sales could be expanded late next year.