Big grocery wants Ontario to lift ban on 'private label' wine, beer

Mike Crawley · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 21, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Premier Doug Ford's adjacent determination to betterment intoxicant retail successful Ontario could beryllium allowing supermarket chains to merchantability their ain private-label vino and beer, specified arsenic Costco's Kirkland Signature brand.

The authorities precocious began consulting with the manufacture astir making further changes to Ontario's rules connected booze sales. 

As portion of the consultations, large market is lobbying for Ontario to extremity its ban connected supermarkets selling their own-brand intoxicant products, CBC News has learned. 

Current provincial regulations prohibit market stores from selling immoderate brands of brew oregon vino successful which they person "a nonstop oregon indirect fiscal interest." 

Small wineries in the state fearfulness the consequences of lifting that ban. 

"Allowing backstage statement vino successful grocery, large container and convenience stores would beryllium a terrible stroke to Ontario's vino industry," said Michelle Wasylyshen, president and CEO of Ontario Craft Wineries, which represents much than 100 vino producers. 

WATCH | How the LCBO makes wealth for the Ontario government: 

Wasylyshen says portion trade wineries profoundly worth their moving narration with the market stores, Ontario's private-label prohibition needs to enactment successful spot truthful that locally-produced wines are not pushed retired by the large supermarket chains. 

"This is simply a achromatic and achromatic contented for us, backed by information and erstwhile experience. There is nary grey zone," she said successful an email to CBC News.

B.C. besides bans private-label sales

Canada's different large wine-producing province, British Columbia – wherever it's a $3.75 billion-a-year manufacture – besides bans supermarkets from selling their ain brands. 

The Retail Council of Canada, which represents each the ample supermarket and big-box chains including Costco, Loblaws, Walmart and Sobeys, says its members successful Ontario are funny successful selling their ain brands of alcohol. 

"Private statement increases competition, lowering prices for customers, due to the fact that brewers and vineyards request to indirectly vie with the little retail prices of backstage statement brands," said Sebastian Prins, the Retail Council's manager of authorities relations for Ontario, successful an email to CBC News.  

Prins says the province's vino manufacture would stay protected by provincial regulations requiring supermarkets to allocate definite portions of shelf-space to Ontario-made products. 

He besides says private-label income could payment grape growers successful Ontario due to the fact that the retailers would beryllium looking for caller sources for their wine.  

But with cross-border commercialized tensions remaining high, and the LCBO presently not stocking U.S. products, a spokesperson for Ford says private-label income are not presently planned arsenic portion of the government's modernization of intoxicant retailing. 

'Supporting Ontario growers' is Ford's priority

"Our precedence close present is supporting Ontario growers and supporting Ontario-made products," said Ford's manager of media relations, Grace Lee. 

The propulsion connected private-label income comes little than a twelvemonth aft Ford sped up the timeline for allowing convenience stores to merchantability beer, vino and ready-to-drink cocktails. That determination is costing taxpayers astatine least $612 million, including $225 cardinal of compensation paid to the mega-breweries that ain The Beer Store for the expanded retail competition.

In April, Ford announced a shift in pricing rules truthful that convenience stores present get their products supplied astatine a 15 per cent discount from the LCBO's retail price, giving them a perchance higher borderline connected vino and brew than market stores, whose discount remains at 10 per cent. 

The Retail Council and the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers wrote a associated missive to Ford past period asking for a fig of changes to the province's booze marketplace, including the quality to merchantability private-label alcohol.

The concatenation and autarkic supermarkets besides raised concerns about the mandate that each market stores selling brew and vino indispensable commencement accepting returns of bare cans and bottles successful 2026, a request not imposed connected convenience stores.