Saul wrote:
mace wrote:
Saul wrote:
I'm not a beer drinker so didn't know this. Will a foreign owner affect a product's (non-)availability on LCBO shelves? Is the Beer Store provincially owned like LCBO, or is beer otherwise controlled like wine and liquor?
The Brewers Retail was formed in 1927 by the Liquor Control Act to be the exclusive seller of beer in Ontario. It was originally joint owned by Molson, Labatt, Carling, O'Keefe and Dow. Today, Molson/Coors owns 50.9%, AB/Inbev 44.9% and Sleeman's 4.2%.
Thanks, mace. So that would mean the Beer Store, and thus the lion's share of beer sales in Ontario, is majority US-owned and controlled.
There is no law preventing Sleeman's, or another Canadian company or family, or a Canadian pension plan, from acquiring Molson Coors and/or AB/Inbev (Labatt) and then the Beer Store could be majority Canadian-owned again. It's just that they have all chosen not to. Pension plans like Ontario Teachers, HOOPS health, OMERS municipal, CPP etc. have all chosen to minimize their Canadian investments and prefer to invest their worker pension contributions in risky overseas assets such as Manhattan real estate, or infrastructure on other continents.
Last edited by DX (March 6, 2025 2:58 pm)