WATCH: Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday urged the union representing 9,000 striking LCBO workers to get back to the bargaining table. He said his government will not back down on its plan to begin selling ready-to-drink beverages into more retail spaces, saying “that ship has sailed, it's halfway across Lake Ontario.”Tensions between the Ford government and the union representing more than 9,000 LCBO workers continue to rise as the provincial liquor store strike enters its 12th day.
OPSEU accused Ontario Premier Doug Ford of firing a strike to “push his alcohol-everywhere agenda” and “dismantle” the LCBO. The majority of convenience store licences are to locations that already have the ability to sell lottery tickets or other licences and were fast-tracked through the vetting process as a result.
“Businesses that offer alcoholic beverages, certainly they’re experiencing limited product availability, so the ability to offer what they would normally sell, slow fulfilment and delivery times, not getting the stock fast enough, and then the restocking capacity is really quite below,” he said.