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We know there’s nothing really to be excited about: after all, adults in Quebec, Europe, the United States and elsewhere have long been permitted buy alcohol and milk in the same store. But this is Ontario — land of incorrigible government “social responsibilities” and sweetheart contract deals — and though we know these paltry little concessions aren’t anything approaching the meaningful retail reform the province has been in desperate need of for the last century or so, we console ourselves with the begrudging acknowledgement that, at the very least, Ontario is moving in the right direction.

But alas, that won’t do. No, this plan makes no sense. Under the new regime, 70 grocery stores will soon be able to sell wine, but half of those stores will be restricted to selling VQA wines — which are produced in Ontario or B.C. — for the first three years, while the others will be permitted to sell both imported and domestic wines. It is quasi-protectionist, but only fleetingly. For this, Wynne hauled out the pretentiously branded shopping baskets? This is what strangled the Queen’s Park news cycle?

The plan is designed to “introduce competition,” while at the same time ensuring that no grocery store can actually compete with the LCBO; yes, consumers will soon have the option to buy wine somewhere other than the LCBO, or an existing Wine Rack or Wine Shop, but they won’t necessarily have access to longer hours (the scheme “would not allow gains for consumers to be achieved at the expense of social responsibility”) and will have to pay at least $10.95 per bottle, regardless of the price at the LCBO.