The union representing government employees in Ontario is concerned by reports that the province is looking at selling beer and wine in large grocery stores.

A Toronto Star report says the Liberals plan to introduce the grocery store policy in their spring budget, but the government wouldn’t confirm it.

Warren Thomas, the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, says the move is "troubling in four ways.

"The first is economic," he said in a statement Friday. "The LCBO brings nearly two billion dollars into the provincial treasury every year. The government is facing hard economic times and is searching everywhere for new sources of revenue. Why would it want to share its liquor profits?"

Public safety is another concern, he said.

"Staff at the Beer Stores and the LCBO are trained in the safe and responsible sale and handling of alcohol, and have product knowledge to share. The same will not be true for staff of grocery stores – and some grocery store employees are too young to legally sell and handle alcohol at all."

Thomas also feels that making alcohol more readily available "will contribute to more violence in the province, particularly violence against women. We know alcohol contributes to violence, and this makes us question Premier Kathleen Wynne's commitment to making women in this province safer."

Thomas pointed out that the wines sold in grocery stores "will not be premium vintages, making them more attractive and more available to people whose incomes are already marginal. This is a truly anti-social move, coming at a time when the government maintains tax breaks for big business."

Brad Duguid, Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure, disagrees.

“Our lifestyles are very fast-paced these days,” Duguid said Friday. “There’s a lot of demands on my time as a minister and I do every week have to pick up a case of beer. If I can do it more conveniently I would probably welcome that opportunity.”

Several concerns would need to be addressed before the government would proceed with any major change to the alcohol retail system, but there is “great enthusiasm” within the government for Clark’s ideas, he said.

-- with files from Antonella Artuso