PCs attempt to assure LCBO it has a future

Union says province's letter to agency doesn't guarantee safety for workers

- ROBERT BENZIE

With more than 9,000 union members on picket lines since Friday, the Ford government is underscoring the importance of the LCBO.

Hit by the first strike in LCBO history, Queen’s Park is assuring the Crown liquor monopoly it will have a central role in future booze liberalization.

With more than 9,000 Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members on picket lines since Friday, Premier Doug Ford’s government is underscoring the importance of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

In a letter to board chair Carmine Nigro, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy stressed “while some take a more short-sighted view that opposes change, as a best in class wholesaler and retailer of alcohol, LCBO will continue to make meaningful financial contributions to provincial coffers.”

But OPSEU president JP Hornick, who maintains the strike is a fight against the premier’s privatization agenda, dismissed Bethlenfalvy’s missive as “weasel words.”

“There’s nothing in there that actually guarantees a single job or what the future of the LCBO looks like,” Hornick told reporters Tuesday at the LCBO’s Queens Quay flagship store.