A local craft brewer is applauding the Doug Ford government and its push to put an end to an agreement with The Beer Store.
Brew Microbrewery owner Jordan Goure says getting beer into corner stores would be a major breakthrough for smaller businesses giving them more options to get their products out to the public.
The Progressive Conservatives tabled legislation this week that would terminate a 10-year contract with The Beer Store that was signed by the previous Liberal government.
Goure says The Beer Store doesn't make it easy to do business.
"You only see all beer store products front and centre for the most part," he says. "If they have Ontario craft brews, at a lot of stores they're just in the back and you can't find them."
Being so closed to Michigan, Goure believes many Windsorites are already familiar with buying beer in corner stores, saying "When you go over the border, we're familiar with it and I enjoy it every time. I see different products at each different store I go to and I think that's what we'll see over here too. Not just all the biggest names and the biggest products. When you go to a small store you'll try something new and that's what we're hoping as a small producer, that people will be trying our product at these new stores."
Finance Minister Vic Fedeli has called current agreement the 'Kathleen Wynne sweetheart deal' with Molson-Coors, Labatt and Sleeman owning The Beer Store controlling a near-monopoly on all beer sales in Ontario.
Industry experts have warned about steep financial penalties for terminating the contract, but Fedeli says legislation will fully protect taxpayers against any costs of civil liabilities.