Article content

A University of Waterloo professor has accused The Beer Store of running a “cartel” that has resulted in the foreign-owned company raking in $700-million in “incremental profit” compared with sellers in Quebec.

Anindya Sen, an associate professor of economics, carried out a 22-week study to compare the price of five brands of beer in Ontario and Quebec.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Beer Store ‘cartel’ pushing up the price of suds in Ontario: study Back to video

The study, which was funded by Ontario Convenience Stores Association, compared the prices listed on The Beer Store’s website for 2013 to the prices listed in the flyers for Metro and IGA grocery store chains in Quebec for the same year.

What Mr. Sen found was that The Beer Store makes $700-million a year more than what it would make if Ontario had the same retail system as Quebec.

The way Ontario’s beer retail system is structured allows for The Beer Store to enjoy a “legislation-protected monopoly status,” Mr. Sen wrote in his study.

He also found that the cost of beer in Ontario was on average $9.50 more per case than in Quebec during the 22-week period.