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Ontario’s Liberals are pushing Doug Ford’s government to sell the province’s stockpile of U.S. booze that is sitting in storage.
Liberal parliamentary Leader John Fraser says Ford should tell the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to sell the booze and donate the proceeds to charity.
Ford pulled American alcohol off LCBO shelves in March in response to U.S. President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
“Why don’t we just sell it off and use those profits and give it to food banks on behalf of all Ontarians?” Fraser said Wednesday.
The province said about $80 million worth of American booze is in storage and about $2 million worth could expire in the next six months.
The province is not ruling out the idea.
“U.S. alcohol will remain off shelves and is being held in storage until further notice,” said Emily Hogeveen, a spokeswoman for Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy.
“We are currently exploring options for the products.”
Most other provinces have banned the sale of American booze. Alberta and Saskatchewan initially stopped U.S. alcohol sales in March, but then changed course.
P.E.I. said Wednesday it would return U.S. alcohol to its liquor store shelves on Thursday and give the $600,000 profit to food banks.
Newfoundland and Labrador recently announced it would sell its $3.2 million worth of inventory and give the roughly $1 million in profits to the Community Food Sharing Association, a charity that warehouses food in St. John’s and distributes it to about 60 food banks across the province.
Nova Scotia has already begun selling its $14-million stockpile and will donate the profits, roughly $4 million, to charity.
Manitoba recently began selling some of its U.S. booze for a limited time. The province initially thought it would sell $1 million worth, but private retailers, restaurants, lounges and other businesses snapped up nearly double that in the first four hours, before the alcohol went on sale for the general public.
