Letter to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario

Dear the Liquor Control Board of Ontario,

Why must you torture us?

We know you let us off the hook with the drinking age being 19 compared to the U.S.A.’s age of 21, but this does us little to no good when the price of even our home-brewed alcohol costs almost as much as it does in Dubai. How can a case of Molson Canadian (Brewed in Toronto and all over Canada) cost $20.00 less as an import in the United States then it does in the Beer Store a block away from where the beer is brewed? This is unbelievable. Not that we are raging alcoholics here in Canada and need cheap alcohol on a day to day basis, but when you are a struggling student making an average wage of $10.00 an hour, $37.95 for a case of domestic beer is far too much. Is this some sort of government conspiracy, trying to up the price in booze to down the number of alcoholics? Well that doesn’t work. If we’re going to drink, we’re going to drink.

Another problem is that we have been taught to support our local economy – well it feels almost insane to buy a case of beer in my hometown of St. Catharines when I can make a half an hour drive to the Tops Grocery Market in Lewiston, NY and pick up a 30 pack of whatever I want for a whopping $17.99. (And duty is only charged on multiple cases of beer, they let you go with just one.) And to think, “buck-a-beer” is such a deal here? Yeah, great deal! $26.95 for a case of let’s say, Carling, a beer that literally tastes like piss and in fact, is actually a little more than a buck a beer. What about the fact that Ontario is one of the few provinces that you cannot buy beer in a corner store, another ridiculous, unnecessary inconvenience that we have to put up with as Ontarians. C’mon LCBO, stop trying to monopolize our alcohol sales! We know you can afford to sell your alcohol for cheaper prices, now stop ripping off the hard-working citizens of Ontario and let them kick back, relax, and find comfort in knowing that the ice-cold delight they are about to toss back did not cost them half a day’s work.

Sincerely,

Jeff Blay