The Progressive Conservative MPP for Essex says Premier Doug Ford is standing up for Ontario workers and workers at Diageo in Amherstburg.
Anthony Leardi told AM800's Mornings with Mike and Meg that it's outrageous for anybody to treat their number one customer this way.
On Saturday at a union rally in Brampton, Premier Ford doubled down on his threat to remove Crown Royal from LCBO shelves if the plan to shut down its bottling facility in Amherstburg moves ahead next year.
"A message to all the bigwigs at Diageo: I swear to God, those bottles of Crown Royal are coming off the LCBO shelves. When the last person walks out through that door, we're going to make sure LCBO takes off their brands because we need to stick together," said Ford.
Leardi says it is outrageous for anybody to treat their number one customer this way.
"$740-million worth of product, as I said, is sold in Ontario by Diageo every year; we are the number one purchaser in North America, and that is on the chopping block if they do not keep that plant open," he says.
"There are other Diageo brands, and I can let you know that every single one of those brands is potentially on the chopping block, and I can also tell you that every single one of those brands can be easily replaced by an Ontario brand," says Leardi.
Diageo, which also owns dozens of other well-known brands, including Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Baileys, Smirnoff, and Captain Morgan, announced in August that it was closing the bottling plant in February 2026, saying it was part of a plan to "streamline its North American supply chain."
In making the announcement on August 28, the company said it would "unlock additional productivity and increased resiliency and capacity to scale, effectively meeting demand across its markets and shifting some bottling volume to be closer to its many U.S. Crown Royal consumers."
Crown Royal products will continue to be mashed, distilled, and aged at its Canadian facilities, and whisky destined for Canada and non-U.S. export markets will continue to be bottled in Canada, at Diageo's Valleyfield, Quebec, facility.
Leardi says the premier has communicated directly with the president of Diageo.
"That conversation did not go the way it should have gone, and you know what, there's always a chance to pick up the phone and have another conversation between now and February, which is the announced deadline for the closure," says Leardi.
There are 207 unionized employees, which includes students, along with around 50 supervisors at the plant that bottles Crown Royal whisky products.
The company just finished hiring staff a few months ago for a third shift at the facility.