Doug Ford dumps bottle of Crown Royal, lashing out at brand over moving jobs to U.S.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford spared no words during a fiery rant against Crown Royal for ‘hurting the people’ who worked at the plant.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford poured scorn on the makers of Crown Royal whisky Tuesday, dumping out a bottle before reporters in protest over the company’s decision to shutter an Ontario bottling plant and move the jobs south of the border.

“You know something, I always say smart people aren’t too smart, and you guys are about as dumb as a bag of hammers for doing this,” Ford said toward the end of an unrelated news conference in Kitchener, Ont.

Rummaging for a bottle he said he found at home, he proceeded to empty the contents out on the ground.

“This is what I think about Crown Royal. That’s what they could do. And I think everyone else should do the same thing,” Ford said as the amber liquid slowly emptied out of the bottle. “Start supporting companies that make whisky here in Ontario, people. That’s what we need to do, is support each other.”

In a news release last week, Crown Royal maker Diageo plc announced that it would be shutting down its bottling facility in Amherstburg, Ont. by February in order to move the work closer to some of its consumers in the U.S.

“We appreciate our dedicated Amherstburg employees for their contributions to Diageo and the Crown Royal brand. This was a difficult decision, but one that is crucial to improving the efficiency and resiliency of our supply chain network,” Diageo’s North American president, Marsha McIntosh, said in the release.

The product itself will still be mashed, distilled, and aged in Canada, the company said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been implementing aggressive tariffs to try force companies to relocate jobs to the U.S. Ford has said Ontario and the rest of Canada should on-shore as much manufacturing as possible in the face of the threats.

Diageo has maintained that the move is not because of Trump’s tariffs, but rather to “increase the efficiency and resiliency of its manufacturing footprint” in North America.

‘Who targets their largest customer?’

Diageo, a U.K.-headquartered multinational, owns dozens of other-well-known brands, including Johnnie Walker, Guiness, Baileys, Smirnoff and Captain Morgan.

Ford said Ontario does around $740 million worth of business with Diageo each year, making the province their largest North American customer.

“Who targets their largest customer?” Ford said, appearing incensed, before he dumped the whiskey. “The people of Ontario support this company, and their payroll is 16, maybe $17 million. So you’re jeopardizing $740 million worth of business for what, $17 million? And you’re going to hurt a community, you’re going to make these people struggle?”

Ford called the company’s executives “smug as they come” and said “I think they’re probably a few fries short of a Happy Meal.”

He told Newstalk 1010 Tuesday that he’d consider pulling Crown Royal from LCBO shelves, but not before February.

“I’m not gonna roll over and sit back while they attack the people of Ontario and these small towns.” Ford said. “We need to stick together.”

A statement provided to CP24 on behalf of Diageo said the company will maintain its footprint across Canada, including at their Canadian headquarters and warehouse operations in the Greater Toronto Area, and other bottling and distillation facilities in Gimli, Man., and Valleyfield, Que.

It added that Diageo directly employs more than 500 people across Canada, including more than 100 in Ontario—outside of those currently working at the Amherstburg site. About 200 jobs will be affected there.