Ontario Premier Doug Ford has urged residents to stock up on Crown Royal whisky, announcing its imminent removal from Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) shelves. The dramatic move, which saw Ford symbolically empty a bottle at a press conference, is a direct retaliation against parent company Diageo's decision to close an Ontario factory and shift operations to the United States.
National Job Impacts Beyond Ontario
However, food policy expert Sylvain Charlebois warns that the Premier's boycott could have severe unintended consequences for Canadian workers far beyond Ontario's borders. The LCBO is pulling Crown Royal from shelves in February 2025, a decision Charlebois, a visiting scholar at McGill University, argues overlooks the whisky's pan-Canadian supply chain.
"When you lose a customer like the LCBO, it will likely impact jobs in both Manitoba and Quebec," Charlebois told the National Post. He emphasized that the LCBO is likely the largest client for the Valleyfield bottling plant in Quebec, which handles Canadian distribution.
Heartland Production at Risk
The core of Crown Royal's production is deeply rooted in the Canadian Prairies. Diageo's Gimli, Manitoba distillery, sitting on the edge of Lake Winnipeg, houses 1.5 million barrels of ageing whisky. This facility relies on Canadian farmers, primarily in Manitoba, for its grain.
Charlebois expressed concern that the loss of the massive Ontario market could destabilize this agricultural partnership. "I suspect the Gimli plant is already talking to farmers, encouraging them not to change their minds... the last thing Gimli wants is to see a growing number of farmers giving up on the Gimli plant and planting something else," he stated, highlighting the immediate supply chain anxieties triggered by the February ban.
Union and Political Backlash Grows
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada National President Barry Sawyer echoed these concerns in a statement, noting that hundreds of Canadians across the country are involved in producing the whisky that ends up on LCBO shelves. The union represents workers in both Ontario and Manitoba.
"The plan to pull Crown Royal from the largest liquor market in Canada threatens these livelihoods, and attacks Canadian workers in a time when we need to stand together as a country," Sawyer said. The union confirmed Diageo has not yet warned of job losses in Manitoba or Quebec but vowed to "fight back" if cutbacks are proposed.
The political reaction has also crossed provincial lines. Manitoba MP James Bezan challenged Ford to focus on interprovincial trade rather than boycotts, stating, "Every drop of Crown Royal is made in Gimli, Manitoba using Manitoba grains and pure Interlake water." He urged the Premier to "tear down interprovincial trade barriers and put Canada First."
While Premier Ford's boycott aims to punish Diageo for moving jobs out of Ontario, the analysis reveals a more complicated national economic picture. The decision risks collateral damage to the very Canadian farmers and distillery workers in Manitoba and Quebec who form the backbone of Crown Royal's iconic Canadian identity.
