Making good on his promise to respond to tariffs imposed by the U.S. president, bottles of American booze are actively being pulled off the shelves at LCBO locations across Ontario at the direction of Premier Doug Ford.
Employees at the recently opened LCBO location at Churchill Plaza were hard at work Tuesday removing any trace of U.S.-made wine, beer and spirits from the store.
A sign on the front door said, 'For the good of Ontario. For the good of Canada. In response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, products produced in the U.S. are no longer available until further notice. Looking for an alternative? Ask our team about our extensive range of Ontario- and Canada-made products.'
Ontario will ban American companies from $30 billion worth of procurement contracts, rip up a $100-million Starlink deal and eradicate U.S. booze in its first wave of retaliations against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, Ford said Tuesday.
Ford said he will also soon impose a 25-per-cent surcharge on electricity that the province sends to 1.5 million Americans in several states, and has threatened to cut off power altogether if U.S. tariffs remain in place into April.
He also threatened to surcharge or cut off critical mineral exports to the U.S. if the trade war lingers.
"We also need to be ready to dig in for a long fight," Ford said. "We need to be ready to escalate using every tool in our tool kit."
Trump imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian goods and a lower 10-per-cent levy on energy. The federal government has responded with a suite of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, under direction from Ford, will stop buying and selling American alcohol immediately.
"We have to make sure we diversify and make sure that the provinces, municipalities, and the federal government buy Ontario and, secondly, buy Canadian if we can't make it here in Ontario," Ford said.
Ontario is uniquely positioned to quickly make U.S. alcohol scarce. The LCBO is the sole purchaser for all American alcohol across the province and imports $965 million worth of booze annually, with more than 3,600 American products from 36 states on its shelves.
The LCBO website was temporarily down on Tuesday while those products were being removed.
The LCBO is also the province's main alcohol distributor, which means grocery and convenience stores, bars and restaurants and other retailers will no longer be able to buy U.S. alcohol.
— with files from The Canadian Press