Beer, wine, ready-to-drink cocktails coming to Ontario corner stores and gas stations in 2026: sources
CBC
Premier Doug Ford's government is set to reveal its plan for changing how alcohol is sold in Ontario, including allowing all supermarkets, convenience stores and gas stations to sell beer, wine and canned mixed drinks starting in 2026, industry sources told CBC News.
The plan goes to cabinet on Tuesday and the announcement is to be made on Thursday, multiple sources said.
Three sources in the industry say the key changes include:
The reforms to Ontario's $10-billion-a-year retail alcohol sector won't come unto effect until Jan. 1, 2026, the sources said.
That's because a contract setting out the rules for beer sales in the province remains in force until then. The contract — known as the Master Framework Agreement (MFA) — is between the government and the multinational brewing companies that own The Beer Store.
The government will issue official notice this week that it intends to terminate the agreement when it expires at the end of 2025, the sources said.
Terminating the agreement will not mean the end of The Beer Store, as its retail shops will be allowed to continue, the sources said.
All the industry sources spoke to CBC News on condition they not be identified. Officials in Ford's office did not respond Monday evening to requests for comment on the accuracy of the information the sources provided.
Ford himself recently indicated that The Beer Store has a future in Ontario.
"We're going to be continuing to negotiate with The Beer Store and they'll still play an important role in the whole system," Ford told reporters in late November at a news conference on an unrelated topic.
CBC News reported last month that Ford's government was preparing to change the rules on how beer, wine, cider and spirits are sold in Ontario.
His Progressive Conservatives made a campaign promise back in 2018 to allow convenience stores to sell beer and wine, but the MFA stood in the way of fulfilling it.
The current agreement. signed by the then-Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne, caps at 450 the number of grocery store locations that can sell beer or wine, precludes supermarkets from selling beer in any format larger than a six pack, and bars retail sales from convenience stores.
Ford's government went so far as tabling a bill to scrap the MFA in 2019. Although the legislation passed, the government has not actually brought it into force.