Kinew thanks Ontario premier for keeping Crown Royal on the shelves

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew welcomed the news that Crown Royal will remain for sale in Ontario.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew thanked Ontario Premier Doug Ford for keeping Crown Royal on the shelves of LCBO.

“This is a good day for workers in Gimli and for Canadian jobs generally,” Kinew said on Friday.

“Premier Ford is always standing up for people in his province. I’m always standing up for people in mine. And it’s nice to see that we could find a path forward together here.”

Kinew’s comments come after the Ontario government announced that it reached a $23 million deal to keep Crown Royal in LCBOs.

Previously, Ford threatened to pull the alcohol from the shelves after Crown Royal’s parent company, Diageo, made the decision to shut down a bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ont., and move jobs to the United States.

On Friday, Ontario said it reached an agreement that will see Diageo make $23 million in new investments in the province, as well as a commitment to look at options to create a new Ontario canning facility.

In a September news conference, Ford emptied a bottle of Crown Royal on the ground in objection to Diageo’s move to shutter the plant.

Kinew then called on Ford to rethink the boycott, as the Crown Royal is mashed, distilled, and aged in Gimli, Man. He wanted Ford to reconsider his approach, adding that there should be a united approach from premiers that doesn’t impact jobs.

The Gimli plant employs about 76 people.

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With files from CTV’s Chris Fix and The Canadian Press