The LCBO takes another hit. Policy bashing is nothing new to the world of the Ontario liquor monopoly and it remains unfazed. A certain trash talking Queen’s Park Columnist ranted this past weekend about strong-arm tactics whereby the LCBO forces its suppliers to advertise in glossy marketing inserts at inflated prices. These newspaper leaflets call a wiki of violations into question. Taxpayer money squandering, backwards marketing, breathless promotion, lack of information, misrepresentation, corruption and greed! Wow. All that from a few pretty photographs of food and plonk!

Look, I’m as big a conspiracy theorist as the next scrib. But come on, a little love for the big, bad machine, please. Great people work there. Product consultants are knowledgable and personable. Stores are clean, well run and the providence of wine is kept with integrity. Prices are stable and I will say it again. For every overpriced wine there is another one with your name on it. For every wine you want but can’t get because of an archaic lottery system, another waits for you. A shortage of quality product is not the problem. The alternative represents chaos and anarchy. Alberta is so far a failed experiment. The maze of laws for selling and shipping from one US state to another are confounding and constricting.  Sure, the profit addiction needs to be addressed but that is why we have lobbyists, especially in Niagara. You will be amazed at the changes coming soon to Ontario wine legislation. Wait for it. Privatization will one day be necessary but we are not ready for it. This is the LCBO’s golden era. The money being poured into the system is a boon for everyone working in the industry. Wrong time to complain. That goes for the wine geeks and the 12,850,000 “owners” too. You will just be biting the hand that feeds.

It seems the esteemed correspondent has never talked to a mirror and mimicked the effortless social interaction he sees all around him, but does not participate in. The LCBO does this everyday, as do I. There’s a little Travis Bickle in all of us.

Each time I find an LCBO advertorial I too ask no one in particular “…have you noticed which products grace these pages?” One quick glance and its “are you talkin’ to me?” I get neither my information nor my inspiration from these “wineserts.” The dumbing down advertorials are harmless and not worth fussing over. At least some people got paid to work for a living. My only complaint is the weight addition to an already overflowing grey bin.

Good to go!