‘Does Ford want to start a trade war?’ Manitoba politicians plead with Ontario to keep Crown Royal on shelves

PC Leader Obby Khan is lending his voice to those pleading with Ontario Premier Doug Ford to keep Crown Royal on Ontario shelves.

The Leader of the Opposition in Manitoba sent a letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford pleading with him to keep Crown Royal on LCBO’s shelves, pointing to the loss of jobs for Manitobans should the whisky be stripped outright.

Ford has said that he will order the removal of Crown Royal from LCBO’s shelves in response to its manufacturer Diageo moving a bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ont., to the United States. About 200 people are being laid off as a result, the company said.

MLA Obby Khan wrote to the premier, from the “home of Crown Royal,” to reconsider his call to clear the Manitoba-made whisky from Ontario’s liquor stores.

“As fellow conservatives, we share common values like supporting private sector industries and the good jobs they create, getting out of the way of business and reducing the tax burden on consumers,” Khan penned in a letter sent on Thursday, adding that it is their job as Progressive Conservative leaders to create new jobs for Canadians and attract investment.

“A Crown Royal boycott in Ontario could jeopardize Manitoba jobs. That’s an outcome we want to avoid during these uncertain economic times,” Khan wrote.

James Bezan, MP of Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, Man., also called out the premier’s “terrible decision” to remove the Canadian whisky from the LCBO, saying it will only “hurt Canada.”

“Does Ford want to start a trade war with other provinces or will he finally put Canada first? I’m sure he doesn’t want to see Ontario wine taken off the shelves in Manitoba,” Bezan said in a social media post.

While Crown Royal is bottled in Amherstburg, the whisky is distilled and blended in Gimli, Man.

Bezan also pointed to how popular this brand of whisky is in Ontario, saying Crown Royal makes up 25 per cent of all Canadian whisky consumption in the eastern province. The Conservative MP was also quick to note Diageo’s corporate offices in Canada remain in Toronto with warehouses in Mississauga.

Ford, however, has defended his plan to remove Crown Royal from LCBO store shelves, telling reporters on Thursday that he won’t back down.

“I don’t call it weaponizing, I call it protecting jobs in Ontario. We are going to do everything we can to protect jobs,” Ford.

“Why don’t people try J.P. Wiser’s? Why don’t we try some great Hiram Walker? Why don’t we get some Forty Creek whisky? I hear that stuff is really good, too.”

Interlake-Gimli Progressive Conservative MLA Derek Johnson also weighed in on Ford’s plans this week, saying that his community has been built around Crown Royal’s plant and going as far to say that Ford’s decisions are “jeopardizing livelihoods.”

“I appeal to you as a fellow Progressive Conservative Leader to leave Crown Royal on LCBO shelves next month and into the future and work together and attract new investment to Ontario and Manitoba,” Khan wrote in Thursday’s letter, which is co-signed by Johnson.

“Cheers... with Crown Royal, of course!”

Ford, however, predicted that, even though Diageo is maintaining some level of production in Canada for now, it will eventually move south of the border to the U.S.

“Make no mistake about it, you think it is going to Winnipeg, you think it is going to Quebec,” Ford said Thursday.

“It is going down to Alabama to be produced and I will fight all day to protect jobs for Ontarians.”

With files from CP24’s Joshua Freeman and CTV News Winnipeg’s Jeff Keele