BARRIE, ONT. —Ontario will move “as quickly as possible” on wider sales of beer and wine, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Tuesday in her strongest signal yet that consumer-friendly changes are brewing in the spring budget.

The‎ province needs a “fairer approach” so craft breweries can grow and expand beyond the boundaries of the decades-old system dominated by the Beer Store and LCBO, Premier Kathleen Wynne said in a speech to the Barrie Chamber of Commerce.

Sources have told the Star that the government will allow about 300 of the province’s 1,500 supermarkets to sell beer and wine, ending a decades-long private monopoly held by the Beer Store, which is owned by three foreign brewers and charges fees for craft breweries to list their products.

Wynne singled out Barrie-based Flying Monkeys brewery, which employs 39 and is exporting to the northeastern United States, Europe and Asia as well as selling in the LCBO and Beer Store.

“If there was a level playing field for them here at home they could be doing even better, they could be selling more product and hiring more people right here,” Wynne said to an appreciative audience at Georgian College that included Flying Monkeys vice-president Patty Gardner.

“I loved what she had to say,” Gardner said later, noting the brewery expects to expand sales as much as 20 per cent as beer sales are liberalized.

The government, which is fighting a $12.5-billion deficit and “recycling” government assets like the alcohol distribution system and Hydro One to raise money for improved transit and infrastructure, is hoping to raise at least $100 million by charging the Beer Store a franchise fee for its privileged access to consumers, while making it easier for shoppers to pick up beer and wine at select supermarkets.

How soon that happens “depends on the scope of the changes,” Wynne told reporters later when asked if new measures could be in place by summer.

“It’s very important to me that once we have the direction identified that we move as quickly as possible.”

Details are being worked out by a panel headed by former TD Bank chief executive Ed Clark, including a system that would see beer and wine sales licences auctioned to supermarkets, sources have told the Star.

“There’s a conversation about licences and how we would work with grocery stores,” Wynne said. “There’s a discussion about the ongoing role of the Beer Store.”

It’s expected the Beer Store and LCBO will continue to serve a distribution role in alcohol sales in addition to their substantial number of retail shops.

Wynne said allowing consumers easier access to beer and wine is part of a strategy to “get the government out of the way when we’re not needed” to help private businesses prosper and create jobs.

“That is a perfect example of how government understands its role in the economy and can work with businesses to remove barriers.”

Critics who have raised concerns about wider beer and wine sales could lead to more minors getting alcohol should not be worried, Wynne added.

“We’ll make sure ‎that the system that has been built up over the years is still in place in terms of making sure that we keep alcohol out of the hands of young people, for example.”

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“We have no intention of doing anything that would put people more at risk.”

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents staff at both the Beer Store and hundreds of supermarkets, has warned grocery cashiers should get thorough training in spotting and refusing sales to minors.

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