Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan defended the board of the LCBO with words such as “competent” but at the same time he endorsed Auditor General Jim McCarter’s criticism that the LCBO doesn’t do enough to negotiate lower prices. I suspect that Mr. Duncan is thinking about the deficit and realizes that perhaps the LCBO cash [...]
Category Archives: Food freedom
The LCBO screws consumers with baffling business practice
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on December 5, 2011 6 comments
One of the arguments often made in favour of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s monopoly is that, by being the world’s largest single purchaser, it can negotiate discounts with suppliers. This argument deserves a great deal of skepticism. After all it isn’t like alcohol is particularly cheap at the LCBO. It turns out that [...]
Government fails and the Happy Meal lives on
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 30, 2011 Comments Off
Government regulators are all too often convinced that they know how we as individuals should live our lives and raise our children. At the same time most regulators are incredibly incompetent at getting people to do what they want. Take this recent case in San Francisco as an example: In order to include a toy [...]
Support raw milk food freedom fighter on hunger strike
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on October 26, 2011 1 comment
Food freedom fighter Michael Schmidt has gone on a hunger strike after the Ontario Court of Justice reversed a lower court decision and found Mr. Schmidt guilty of crimes related to the distribution of raw milk. Mr. Schmidt had started a business where people who wanted access to raw milk could own part of a [...]
Raw milk champion faces legal set back
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 29, 2011 6 comments
Michael Schmidt is a diary farmer who established a business that allowed patrons to partially own a cow so that they could have a source of raw milk. The distribution of raw milk is illegal in Ontario and so Mr. Schmidt was arrested and charged. At first he defended himself in court but his case [...]
Ontario’s puritanical liquor laws
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on June 13, 2011 5 comments
A friend of mine traveling in the United States violated what would have been four liquor laws in 15 seconds if he had been in Ontario. All he did was buy a $2 can of beer at a corner store then opened it and brought it into a restaurant. Does that seem like an unreasonable [...]
Fighting for wine freedom
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on May 17, 2011 Comments Off
Terry David Mulligan has challenged an archaic law that prohibits the transportation and sale of alcohol across provincial borders. He loaded up his car with wine in BC and walked across the border to Alberta. He informed officials on both sides what he planned, and in response officials promised not to enforce the law: Lynn [...]
Lowering the cost of beer would be a winning issue for Hudak
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on February 9, 2011 13 comments
Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak mused on Monday that many Ontarians miss a buck a beer (I certainly miss it). Premier Dalton McGuinty dismissed any discussion of the government enforced price floor as a “distraction” from more urgent issues. There is also the suggestion that it would some how be irresponsible to allow people to [...]
Freedom Party: End the Beer Sales Tax
Posted by Peter Jaworski on December 21, 2010 Comments Off
The Freedom Party of Ontario has been putting together a few clever YouTube ads in order to push their platform, and garner a bit more attention. (As it is, libertarians in Ontario can choose between the self-described “objectivist” Freedom Party, or the Ontario Libertarian Party. I assume vote-splitting is rampant.) They got my attention, since [...]
The Rawesome raid: Stopping the evil of raw milk
Posted by Peter Jaworski on November 20, 2010 8 comments
I haven’t tried raw milk. I sort of want to now, but only because the U.S. and Canadian governments are hyperventilating about it, rounding up a bunch of harmless hippies and farmers and making their lives a living hell. Drinking raw milk would be symbolic of telling the state to shove off, and asserting your [...]