Calls heat up to pull Crown Royal from LCBO shelves

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

The decision by major alcohol distributor Diageo to shutter its Amherstburg Crown Royal bottling plant has ignited calls for Ontario to pull the brand from LCBO shelves.

After talks with community members and union leaders, Lisa Gretzky, NDP MPP for Windsor West, is calling on the government to pull the whisky brand.

“We’re not going to stand by and let you just try and squeeze a little more money out for those wealthy shareholders at the risk of 200 people in our community. We will take the step of pulling Crown Royal off the shelves at the LCBO,” Gretzky told CTV News.

Last week, Diageo announced it would wind down operations in Amherstburg by February to move work into the U.S., affecting more than 200 employees.

The shift prompted Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday to label the company as “dumb as a bag of hammers” and dump out a bottle of Crown Royal in a heated response.

Gretzky wants the premier to go one step further in an effort to pressure the liquor giant.

“At some point you have to show your solidarity, you have to show that fight, and you have to push back,” Gretzky said.

However, a government-led boycott could create more turmoil rather than continued business in the province, warned Sylvain Charlebois, a visiting scholar in food policy and distribution at McGill University.

Ontario is already without American booze after Ford ordered it out of the LCBO in the spring in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“To see a government discouraging the purchase of a product is really dangerous,” Charlebois told CTV News on Tuesday evening.

Charlebois believes it will be difficult to convince consumers that the “symbol of Canadiana” doesn’t belong on shelves.

Through a government boycott, consumers could see higher costs due to less competition, and the province could face legal action, he said.

“If that’s the role Premier Ford wants to play, that’s just not good for business altogether,” Charlebois said.

Crown Royal is expected to maintain its large distilling footprint in Manitoba and Quebec.

The researcher said the decision would equate to “government overreach,” rather than a defense of workers. In the most successful cases, Charlebois added that boycotts have been fueled by consumers wanting to make a difference.

“So, the Leamington story was really a miracle, but it was led by consumers, and it worked,” Charlebois said, referring to the previous boycott of Heinz.

“Now to see governments and the premier getting involved and asking people to boycott a product that is actually made, that is still made in Canada, is unreal as far as I’m concerned.”

Ford has said he’d consider pulling Crown Royal from LCBO shelves, but not before February.