Ontario's Booze Prices Too High: AG

This weekend, raise your glasses, mugs, tumblers, highballs, bottles, and shot glasses to Jim McCarter.

If there's one thing that unites residents of Ontario, it's the widespread acceptance that we're getting hosed whenever we buy alcohol. Anyone who's been to Quebec, or the U.S., knows that the booze prices in Ontario seem a little steep. (Not to mention that you can only really buy it from the LCBO or Beer Store, but that's for a different day.) This week, drinkers found a new ally in provincial Auditor General Jim McCarter, who railed against the LCBO for not getting the cheapest prices possible for Ontario consumers. As the LCBO is one of the biggest purchasers and retailers of alcohol on the planet, it carries significant heft when buying wholesale from alcohol manufacturers. But McCarter slammed the L-C for buying products according to how much they want to charge for them, and not doing enough to use their leverage to convince manufacturers to sell their goods for less. (This is due to a delightful little notion known as "economies of scale".) Provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan seems to be onboard with McCarter, as paying less for alcohol would surely lower the LCBO's operating expenses, with some savings passed on to the consumer (we hope).