‘Smirnoff’s next’: Ford said Ontario will look to remove more booze from LCBO shelves following Crown Royal plant closure

Ont. Premier Doug Ford says he won’t hesitate to remove more booze from LCBO shelves to ‘send a signal’ to companies shutting down Canadian manufacturing.

Premier Doug Ford says more booze may be stripped from LCBO shelves if a plan to shut down a Crown Royal bottling facility in southwestern Ontario goes forward.

“Who in their right mind, any business person with half a brain, would go after their largest customer in North America?” Ford asked during a news conference following the The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers Leadership Summit in Quebec City.

Following news in August that the Amherstburg bottling plant would be shut down, the premier has repeatedly lashed out at Diageo, the owner of Crown Royal and many other well-known liquor brands, including Guinness, Baileys, Smirnoff, and Captain Morgan.

• READ MORE: Ford doubles down on plan to pull Crown Royal off LCBO shelves in response to Ontario bottling plant closure

The company previously said the closure of plant, which employs nearly 200 people and has been operating for nearly a century, was part of a plan to “streamline its North American supply chain.”

“Diageo, we do over $765 million, more than any jurisdiction anywhere in the U.S. or in Canada, and they want to close down a plant? Over what? $8 million of wages they think they are going to save,” Ford said.

“The LCBO is largest purchaser of alcohol in the entire world. And I will use that leverage to make sure we send a signal that we are pulling Crown Royal off our shelves as soon as the last person leaves that plant. And they can deal with it.”

Ford said he will look at removing Smirnoff from store shelves next.

“That’s what happens when you try to undermine the people of Ontario,” the premier said. “These large corporations are going to be held accountable.”

With files from CP24’s Bryann Aguilar