[niwell]

Interesting thread!

Things have changed quite a bit in Ontario starting with Wynne allowing beer/wine sales in many grocery stores and accelerated a fair bit under Ford. But it really took off during COVID when bars/restaurants were allowed off-sales which has led to the rise of independent bottle shops. The big issue that remains is the tax framework which mandates that bars/restaurants/bottle shops essentially purchase alcohol at the same cost that you would from the LCBO. So the specialty shops only really work for niche products (craft beer, high-end wine) that you can't get at the LCBO.

Ford has committed to breaking up the Master Framework with the Beer Store consortium and allow beer sales in convenience stores. However the result of this really depends on how sales to stores is allowed - currently grocery stores have beer and wine as a loss leader as they pay and sell at LCBO prices. If wholesale purchasing is allowed it could be interesting, but if not then it's probably not worth it for most retailers.

Drinking in parks has been semi-legalized in Toronto with a number of parks allowing it, but in classic "pilot project" fashion it's only 1-2 for each Ward. That being said there's virtually no enforcement on drinking in public and nobody really seems to care. In the summer you can actually buy "to-go" cocktails from a lot of bars and drink them on the street - particularly during street festivals. Rules around cordoned off outdoor patios have also disappeared and it's now allowed for bars to just put out a few chairs and tables on the sidewalk (provided it's wide enough). Street patios have become a permanent fixture as well, though last year was a bit of a flop due to onerous fees/application process that's hopefully been fixed for this year. A lot of bars also don't want to bother post-COVID as they already have a back patio and it's not worth the extra staffing now that capacity is back up to 100%.

There's still a lot of issues with alcohol in Ontario but it really is night and day compared to a decade ago. My biggest concern remains around the taxation and wholesale issue which is something that independent alcohol producers and retailers have been pushing for. Breaking up the Beer Store is almost meaningless if it only benefits the big producers and doesn't allow competitive pricing for retailers/bars. I'm actually fine with the LCBO as it's become a pretty decent retail experience with generally good selection across the board. It could be complimented very well with independent retailers if the pricing issue is fixed.