It’s enough to drive you to drink.

Auditor General Jim McCarter is taking the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to task for purchasing policies and pricing structures that mean booze is too expensive yet revenues are not maximized.

“A Walmart would certainly go back to their supplier and say: ‘Would you sell it to us cheaper?’ We think a lot of suppliers would sell it to us cheaper, basically to get that LCBO listing,” said McCarter, noting the provincial monopoly is one of the biggest alcohol retailers in the world.

“Nobody else has your buying clout,” the auditor lectured the LCBO.

McCarter found the LCBO’s purchasing differs from private-sector retailers, which try to find the lowest wholesale prices.

“Instead, it focuses on the retail price it wants to charge for a product.”

He said suppliers “work backwards” and, at the LCBO’s request, will “raise or lower the wholesale cost of the product” to fit within the company’s price structure.

For its part, the 618-store giant claimed any such discrepancies may in fact be due to changes in transportation costs, currency exchange rates, or a supplier’s error.

The LCBO’s Karen Mortfield defended the “well-established” purchasing practices and noted the company returned $1.56 billion to the provincial treasury last year.

But Finance Minister Dwight Duncan countered: “Should we be getting $1.7 billion or $1.8 billion? It’s wise to look at that.”

Duncan added the chain’s pricing polices are “counter- intuitive.”

“I understand why people find it unusual,” he said, promising to probe the issue as he searches for a way to eliminate a $16-billion deficit. “We want them to maximize their buying power.”

While neighbouring U.S. states often have dramatically lower wine and booze prices, Duncan , who represents a Windsor riding, said they don’t have the health and social services Ontario does.

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“I’d rather have health care accessible to all of our children. The infant mortality rate in Detroit -- where you might go to buy a bottle of wine for $6 that you pay $18 for here -- is much higher … I choose our system, I choose social responsibility.”

Still, the treasurer did say that Ontario has lower liquor prices than any other province in Canada.