Two years after booze came to corner stores, the LCBO is down $780 million
But new moves from Ford could top up its glass
Premier Doug Ford’s tinkering with Ontario’s booze market has cost the LCBO big money.
Figures in the newly released 2026 Ontario budget show that the liquor retailer’s profits dropped by $780 million in the two years after Ford allowed beer and wine to be sold in corner stores in 2024. The LCBO brought in $1.79 billion in 2025-26, a significant drop from the $2.57 billion it made in 2023-24.
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Ford’s subsequent decision to strip US alcohol off the shelves didn’t help either: the CBC reports it cost the LCBO $75 million, since markups were higher on those foreign products than their Canadian replacements.
Since the province owns the LCBO, that means a loss of income to the public purse—and a significant one, too, given the Ford government is projecting a $13.8-billion deficit. The province is also cutting $60 million in alcohol taxes, including for beer and wine brewed by local producers and sold at in-house bottle stores. That will come at a cost: the province now expects its revenue from alcohol taxes to decline by nearly half next year.
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Not all the booze store’s woes are down to the government itself. People are also just drinking less, and that’s costing the LCBO some $80 million in lost sales, according to the CBC.
The LCBO is also getting a new role as the exclusive wholesaler for all retailers, bars and restaurants selling alcohol in Ontario, a move the government announced in 2024 and will go into effect on April 1 of this year.
The new plan would allow the LCBO to maintain its pride of place even as beer and wine are sold elsewhere, but it also comes with a cut: the province is knocking down its wholesale markups by $200 million. That will mean cheaper beer for bars and convenience stores, but whether those retailers will pass those savings onto their customers remains to be seen. (We’re still waiting on that buck-a-beer, after all.)
None of this amounts to death for the LCBO: the government expects its profits will bounce back by a modest $100 million next year, and it will carry on as the public retailer that we all know and, sort of, love.
Anthony Milton is a freelance journalist based in Toronto specializing in long-form magazine writing. He previously worked as an assistant editor at Toronto Life, where he launched the Front Row newsletter. He regularly contributes all sorts of stories to the magazine, including deep dives on sports, business and housing as well as short-form commentary on our ever-changing city, from its obsession with cherry blossoms to its maddening NIMBYism. His work has also appeared in Maclean’s, Ricochet, TVO, the Trillium and more.
