‎Premier Kathleen Wynne says Ontarians can “expect some change” in the new year on the way booze is sold in the province, including a rethink of the government’s deal with the foreign-owned Beer Store.

While the premier remained coy about how far she is prepared to go, she said the Liberals are “absolutely” serious about reforms.

“I’m impatient to get at that,” Wynne told the Star on Wednesday during a year-end interview in her Queen’s Park office.

“There’s a distribution system that works very well, but the fact it works very well has a value to it, right?” she said of the privately owned Beer Store.

“So how do we realize that value for the people of the province?”

A blue-ribbon panel on monetizing provincial assets led by former TD Bank chair Ed Clark has recommended keeping the LCBO in public hands while expanding its operations and charging The Beer Store a “franchise fee.”

Clark has warned the brewers, who claim they cannot afford another tariff, they will not be allowed to pass along the levy to consumers in the form of higher beer prices.

If they balk, the government is threatening to take away the monopoly enjoyed by AB InBev, MolsonCoors, and Sapporo, the offshore parent companies of Labatt, Molson and Sleeman.

As first revealed by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn, the major brewers have enjoyed a secret sweetheart deal with the government-owned LCBO for the past 14 years.

Under that agreement — which has sparked a complaint from Restaurants Canada to the federal Competition Bureau — the LCBO is restricted from selling beer in sizes larger than six-packs.

That leaves more lucrative sales of 12- and 24-packs exclusively to The Beer Store, which has 448 outlets across Ontario. As well, restaurants and bars must pay higher prices to buy their beer directly from the big brewers.

Wynne, who said changes would be revealed in Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s spring budget, insisted she isn’t taking on the multinational brewing giants just because the provincial treasury needs revenue.

“For me, this is not about doing it because of what Ed Clark’s doing. We have said to him, this is part of what needs to be looked at, because I want it to be fair,” the premier said.

“My entrée into this was actually through discussions with the craft brewers — that was when the issue really landed on my table, and so I’m just very much looking forward to being able to take some steps to make it fair,” she said, referring to small independent brewers’ frequent complaints of access to The Beer Store’s shelves.

The fact it’s a foreign-owned entity makes the retailer easier to take on.

“I think the ‘not-Canadian-owned’ sticks in people’s craw,” said Wynne.

“People can handle the private part — and once people understand that it was intended to be like a co-operative of all of the brewers — I think people can deal with that,” she said.

“I think the foreign-owned part — and then add to that the notion that some of the Ontario brewers don’t have access — that’s important to people.”

In a statement, Jeff Newton, president of Canada’s National Brewers, the industry association representing The Beer Store, said the breweries want to work with Wynne.

“We appreciate Premier Wynne’s interest in The Beer Store and are prepared to engage with the premier’s advisory council on government assets in fact-based discussions about the future of the industry,” said Newton, noting Clark’s panel has already hailed the company for running “an open, efficient, low-cost retail system that benefits all brewers including small craft brewers.”

“We work hard every day to ensure that we maintain a low-cost retail environment as it helps keep beer prices low for Ontario consumers, despite a 44 per cent government tax rate,” he said.

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“We believe a fact-based process is essential if the advisory council process is to deliver overall improvements for Ontario brewers and consumers without generating unnecessary price hikes for beer drinkers.”

Along with revisiting the government’s arrangement with The Beer Store, Clark’s panel recommends the publicly owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario expand its retailing online.

As well, he suggested the LCBO open big-box “warehouse depot stores” and specialty boutiques that “emphasize craft beer or craft distillery products” and wines from around the world.

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