The majority of Ontarians disapprove of the monopoly possessed by the three foreign brewers that own the beer store but there is no clear consensus on what to do about it, a new poll has found.
The Mainstreet Technologies poll of 2,890 Ontarians of legal drinking age found that 68 per cent of respondents disapprove of foreign ownership of the beer store (45 per cent strongly disapprove, 23 per cent somewhat disapprove) while just 17 per cent approve (2 per cent strongly approve, 15 per cent somewhat approve) and a further 14 per cent say they don’t have an opinion.
Asked which reform they would prefer the most, residents were split with 30 per cent saying they would like to see the Beer Store owned by Ontario brewers, 23 per cent responding that they want it to be owned by the provincial government and 17 per cent suggesting that the sale of beer should be opened up to convenience stores and supermarkets. Another 8 per cent said they would like to see the province have a minority ownership stake in the Beer Store.
“How the sale of beer in Ontario is reformed has big implications, not just for the government who is looking for new revenues, but also for restaurants, bars and craft brewers,” Mainstreet Technologies President Quito Maggi said in a press release accompanying the poll. “There is certainly public support to do something bold, but what that will be remains to be seen.”
The Beer Store, which is owned by Molson-Coors, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Sapporo, has come under fire in recent months for a long-standing arrangement it has with the provincial government that gives it exclusive rights to sell 12 and 24-packs.
The criticism did prompt the store to introduce changes that make it easier and cheaper for small Ontario brewers to sell their products at a limited number of locations earlier this month, however it remains unclear whether that will appease those who are calling for a more significant overhaul of the way beer is sold in Ontario.
The poll is considered accurate to within 1.82 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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