Global InformationLiquor Control Board of Ontario information
 | This article needs to be updated. (February 2022) |
 | |
| Company type | Crown corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1927 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario , Canada |
Number of locations | 677 stores (2020–21)[1] |
Area served | Ontario |
Key people | Carmine Nigro, chair[2] George Soleas, President and CEO [3] |
| Products | Liquor sales and distribution to both consumers and businesses |
| Revenue | $7.21 billion CAD[1] (2020-21) |
Net income | $2.54 billion CAD[1] (2020-21) |
| Owner | Government of Ontario |
Number of employees | 8000+ [4] |
| Website | lcbo.com |
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is a Crown corporation that retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout the Canadian province of Ontario.[5] It is accountable to the Legislative Assembly through the minister of finance.[5] It was established in 1927 by the government of Premier George Howard Ferguson to sell liquor, wine, and beer.[6] Such sales were banned outright in 1916 as part of prohibition in Canada.[7] The creation of the LCBO marked an easing of the province's temperance regime. By September 2017, the LCBO was operating 651 liquor stores.[8]
The LCBO maintained a quasi-monopoly on the trade in alcoholic beverage sales in Ontario for nearly a century after its creation: for most of this time, LCBO stores were the only retail outlets licensed to sell alcohol in Ontario, with the notable exceptions of beer (The Beer Store had a quasi-monopoly on retailing beer during most of this period) and a number of wine shops,[9] which had once been relatively diverse but had largely consolidated into two major chains by the 2010s: the Wine Shop and Wine Rack.[10] Many of these independent outlets were located on-site at wineries, breweries or distilleries themselves, with Wine Shop and Wine Rack locations often located within grocery stores.[10] Because Ontario is Canada's most populous province, with over 15 million people, or almost 40% of the nation's population, LCBO's quasi-monopoly status made it one of the world's largest purchasers of alcoholic beverages.[dead link][11]
In December 2015, the LCBO authorized some supermarkets to sell cider, wine, and beer within their grocery aisles, substantially weakening their and The Beer Store's long near-monopoly statuses.[12][13] As of December 9, 2016, nearly 130 grocery stores had been licensed to do so; 450 were expected to be licensed by 2020.[14]
The LCBO remains the chief supplier of alcoholic beverages to bars and restaurants in Ontario, which are generally required by law to purchase their alcoholic products through the LCBO, The Beer Store, or directly from Ontario wineries and breweries. Beverages sold at bars and restaurants must be consumed on the establishments' premises. The LCBO was the parent company of the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation, the only entity licensed to sell cannabis for recreational use in Ontario.[15] This is no longer true following the passage of the Cannabis Statute Law Amendment Act, 2018.[16]
- ^ a b c "Annual Report 2014-15". Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ "Toronto developer named new LCBO chair by Ontario government".
- ^ Governance, corporate. "LCBO Corporate Structure". Retrieved 2017-04-01.
- ^ "LCBO Online Annual Report" (PDF). 2020.
- ^ a b "Chapter 17: Government Business Enterprises". www.fin.gov.on.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
- ^ Genosko, Gary; Thompson, Scott (September 1, 2002). "Administrative surveillance of alcohol consumption in Ontario, Canada: pre-electronic technologies of control". Surveillance & Society. 1.
- ^ McRuer, J. C. (James Chalmers) (1922-01-01). The Ontario liquor laws, being the Ontario Temperance Act and amending acts 1916 to 1922; with annotations, supplemented by the Dominion and provincial acts affecting the liquor traffic in Ontario. Toronto, Ontario, Canada Law Bk. Co.
- ^ Benzie, Robert (8 September 2017). "LCBO to run 150 marijuana stores". Retrieved 12 January 2018 – via Toronto Star.
- ^ "Time to end alcohol retail monopolies in Ontario, report says | Toronto Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
- ^ a b "Wine Rack, Wine Shop face major shakeup: Cohn | Toronto Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
- ^ FAQ Archived 2008-06-10 at the Wayback Machine - LCBO Media Centre, accessed January 24, 2008
- ^ "LCBO vows to open up to seven kiosks in Ontario grocery stores selling beer, wine and spirits". Retrieved 2016-08-24.
- ^ Duggan, Evan (24 November 2016). "Alcohol sales in supermarkets a boost to asset values". Property Biz Canada. Property Biz Canada. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
Beer and cider on the aisles of Ontario supermarkets was first allowed in December 2015 breaking a long held monopoly on sales enjoyed for decades by The Beer Store and LCBO
- ^ CNW (9 December 2016). ""Don't buy into privatization," LCBO union says". Edmonton Journal. Postmedia. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
expanded beer, cider, and wine sales to nearly 130 grocery stores across the province. That number that could reach 450 by 2020, the government says.
- ^ "LCBO subsidiary to manage Ontario marijuana sales". theglobeandmail.com. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
- ^ "Bill 36, Cannabis Statute Law Amendment Act, 2018". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved 11 December 2018.