Competition Bureau meets with Restaurants Canada re: LCBO and Beer Store deal

Toronto, ON – Restaurants Canada today announced it had met with officials from the Competition Bureau to discuss its complaint about the “sweetheart deal” between The Beer Store and LCBO.

“It was a positive first meeting,” said James Rilett, Restaurants Canada’s Vice-President Ontario. “We wanted to give the Competition Bureau a clearer picture of our industry and the unfair and outdated system of beer sales in Ontario.”

Restaurants Canada, the 30,000-member foodservice association, explained that today’s meeting was the start of a continuing dialogue as Competition Bureau gathers information and carries out its investigation.

“The biggest problem is that we don’t have access to all the information,” added Rilett. “We hope the Ontario government will share all documents and details about this deal, and the reasons behind its original decision to enter into this agreement – one that is detrimental to consumers and businesses in the province.”

Additonally, Restaurants Canada launched its #CanTheDeal petition in December 2014 to asking the Wynne government to cancel the LCBO-Beer Store deal. It has nearly 19,000 supporters so far.