Premier Kathleen Wynne has dashed hopes of Quebec-style beer sales in variety stores even as she promises improved access for Ontario consumers this spring by changing the private Beer Store monopoly.

“We’re not going to have beer in convenience stores,” she said Monday during a stop in her Don Valley West riding.

But Wynne did not rule out the possibility of beer being sold in supermarkets, such as Loblaws, and big-box retailers like Costco or in independent craft brewers’ boutiques.

“There are changes coming. It’s not whether there will be change; it’s just a matter of what that change will be — so stay tuned.”

Her comments came as a new Forum Research poll found most Ontarians want an end to the foreign-owned Beer Store monopoly and the right to buy their ales and lagers in corner stores and supermarkets.

“The Beer Store has been getting a lot of attention lately, thanks to the Star, and Ontarians are becoming sensitized to the fact they have less choice in beer sales than many other provinces,” said Forum president Lorne Bozinoff.

“This kind of attention is naturally corrosive, and will only get worse the more the Beer Store executives plead a losing case,” said Bozinoff.

Indeed, the poll suggests 58 per cent want to open up the 448-store monopoly operated by AB InBev, Belgian parent of Labatt; U.S.-based MolsonCoors, and Japan’s Sapporo, owner of Sleeman.

Only 22 per cent want the status quo while 19 per cent had no opinion.

Using interactive voice-response phone calls, Forum surveyed 1,028 people across Ontario on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Results are considered accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The pollster also asked for feedback on the most appropriate kind of store for retailing beer — 21 per cent said the Beer Store, 16 per cent the LCBO, 11 per cent convenience stores, 8 per cent brewery-operated stores, 1 per cent said elsewhere, 26 per cent said all of the above, and 4 per cent didn’t know.

Forum found attitudes toward the Beer Store have shifted since last year. On April 7, 2014, there was 52 per cent approval for the chain and 28 per cent disapproval. Last week, it was 42 per cent approval and 41 per cent disapproval.

Awareness of the Beer Store’s ownership is also changing. Last year, 62 per cent believed it was Canadian compared to 42 per cent last week. In 2014, only 22 per cent knew it was foreign-owned; now, it’s 42 per cent.

Asked about the premier’s announcement on convenience stores, Jeff Newton, president of Canada’s National Brewers, pointed out the company is already making “big changes . . . to expand ownership opportunities at the Beer Store to all Ontario brewers.”

“The government continues to recognize that the Beer Store is a highly efficient system that has benefits for consumers,” said Newton.

The Beer Store announced last month that it was opening up its ownership to Ontario craft brewers.

Wynne’s corner-shop salvo — coming as former TD Bank chair Ed Clark develops a plan to wring more money out of booze sales for the cash-strapped treasury — surprised the Ontario Convenience Stores Association.

Dave Bryans, chief executive of the association, said the premier seems to forget there are already 216 “LCBO agency stores” in rural Ontario that sell beer alongside groceries.

“Our proposal to the Ed Clark panel was to . . . help the government by expanding the LCBO-agency model into an LCBO-agency/Beer Store model where the government could compete with the Beer Stores,” said Bryans.

“That would give more choice to consumers . . . and give more revenue to the government,” he said, noting Quebecers can buy beer at 6,500 convenience stores — known locally as depanneurs — and 1,000 supermarkets and big-box outlets.

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“In Quebec, there are no ‘beer stores’ at all anymore. You can’t even buy it at the SAQ (the province-owned liquor stores).”

Bryans added convenience stores are “the biggest seller of beer in North America” with tens of thousands of shops across the continent.

“If it doesn’t happen today, it will happen tomorrow because that’s the evolution of retail.”

Finance Minister Charles Sousa is to formally reveal the government’s revamped beer-selling strategy in the March budget.

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