08.08.2018 08:49 AM

Free of charge. You’re welcome.

54 Comments

  1. MitchB says:

    I’ll take a Laker anytime over a Dogma Crna Krava… 🙂

  2. Matt says:

    Maybe you should be offering your communication expertise to some of these hipster dipster micro breweries.

    Saw a bunch interviewed yesterday “Oh no, no, no!! Our beer is far to high quality to sell in for a dollar a beer”

    Yeah, enjoy your declining sales, morons.

    • The Doctor says:

      It’s like a Tesla dealer complaining about a sale on Toyota tercels.

    • Jim says:

      Care to back up your expert analysis with some actual facts? Sales growth for Craft brews far exceeds that of mainstream beers and “Buck A Beer” isn’t going to change that.

      The people excited about $1 Lakers are not the same folks spending $3-$4 a bottle for Cherry Gose or Session Ales.

  3. Robert White says:

    ” Let them eat cake.” has morphed into ” Let them drink buck-a-beer”, Warren. Keep your eyes peeled for the Circuses, man!

    The poor of Ontario can’t afford to drink beer at any price, Feudal Lord, Ford.

    RW

    • Lance says:

      “The poor of Ontario can’t afford to drink beer at any price, Feudal Lord, Ford.”

      No we can’t afford it…..but we find a way to drink it anyway n’est pas?

      • The Doctor says:

        Yeah I’ve never seen a poor person drink alcohol ever.

      • Robert White says:

        Agreed, but selling off the furniture is no way to live like the ‘middle class’, man. If I want some brew or bud I have to sell off my junk, and I would rather make six figures screaming expletives through a microphone and 50,000 watts at Feudal Lord Ford instead, Brother Lance.

        There has to be a better way to suffer in Ontario than this way. Frankly, I want a fat bastard tax placed on Premier Feudal Lord Ford and his merry band of corporatists right away. That should cover the brewskies IMHO.

        RW

        • MitchB says:

          LOL you’ve got the rose-coloured Liberal partisan lenses lazered to your corneas I see. Not much is going to change your mind that the “natural ruling party” is above reproach. But your “insults” of Ford could use more imagination. Why do you think after a mere 2 months in power, he’s a feudal lord? Just wondering? Wasn’t Ford’s campaign slogan “For The Serfs”?

          • Ridiculosity says:

            Shit flows downstream. And so does shitty beer.

          • Robert White says:

            Feudal Lord Ford unilaterally changed Toronto City Hall representation of constituency to suit his political partisan agenda for the federal election and to undermine the political process for his political enemies both provincial, and municipal.

            No consultation with City of Toronto councillors was forthcoming and he just dumped the decision making entirely because he is Feudal Lord Ford the guy with the majority vote and a mandate to dictate without public consultation.

            Mayor John Tory was not even consulted.

            Feudal Lord Ford likes ‘Ford Nation TV’ to the exclusion of our MSM supported journalists. Feudal Lord Ford is so anal retentive that he denied MSM journalists a media bus so that they could follow his participatory so-called ‘democracy’ on the hustings. Only a Feudal Lord would act such a way whilst seeking public office.

            RW

        • Lance says:

          Well, if he makes you THAT miserable, isn’t making it easier to get soused and thereby numb the pain sort of a good thing? I just can’t decide if this situation is coincidence or irony.

          • Robert White says:

            It’s irony because I get my $2.00/can FAXE Premium Imported beer from Denmark at the LCBO, and those fat bastards will never lower the price of my premium suds for the self aggrandizement of Feudal Lord Ford & his merry band of corporatist stooges just so they can win at the polls on buck-A-brewski promotion. Don’t forget that populist proto-fascists in the making always promulgate political spectacle in a purposeful manner that culminates into electioneering on down the road to the next successive writ date. It’s wag-the-dog propaganda for the consumption of the great unwashed masses that don’t have the intelligence to read Kinsella’s blog, man.

            In less than four years the Progressive Conservatives of Ontario will be touting how great they were with slogans about the success of ‘Buck-A-Beer’ promotion for government. The next election will include Buck-A-Beer success as part of the record Feudal Lord Ford will run on as testimony of his political astuteness for the premiership of Ontario. Frankly, the PCs are just going to copy the Liberals and all strategy they initially mastered.

            RW

  4. In the race to the bottom, gravity is just not fast enough for this guy. Way to turn Ontario into a third-rate Simpson’s plot-line. We’ll see how brilliant this strategy looks a year from now.

    • Robert White says:

      Fully agree with you, Scott. In the interim I hope he gets keel hauled by the crew so that he is humbled somewhat before the masses run him out of the province on a rail.

      RW

  5. Peter says:

    After reading the CBC and other media accounts, I am astounded at the number of ways the beautiful people are finding to slam this one. Unfair to high-priced craft beers, the poor can’t afford beer at all, blah, blah. How can anyone turn this into a bad news story? All Ford is doing is reducing the price of ordinary beer to Quebec levels (albeit with some financial sleight-of-hand).

    Although I’m conservative-leaning,the issue of vice brings out the inner Marxist in me. Over the last three generations, there has been a steady liberalization of vices that are enjoyed to some degree by the upper half and progressives generally. Marijuana, drugs generally, public drinking,alcohol advertising, sexual variety, gambling, “obscene” art (a.k.a. porn). But when it comes to vices that the upper and middle classes abjure, we go all Victorian and worry about what the lower classes can handle. Tobacco, obviously, but also sugary drinks and now apparently ordinary beer. I do wish Ford would respond to these criticisms by announcing he will fund cheaper beer through tolls on bike paths.

    If people were really concerned about the exploitation of the lower half, they would forget beer and set their sights on the scandal of lottery tickets (and casinos). Who hasn’t seen the amounts spent by the needy in corner stores on that idiocy? The purveyor of that vice is, of course, government.

  6. The Doctor says:

    The other thing this does for Doug, free of charge, is that the whole no-fun crowd pops up and makes Ford looks like he’s in favour of fun, while Ford’s opponents are not. Like MADD coming out and saying that cheap beer is going to kill people. These are the same sort of puritan prigs who still think drinking outdoors, in a park, at a festival, etc. ought to be banned and illegal. Meanwhile, anyone (at least anyone who’s not a knob) who’s been to Europe realizes how stupid our whole approach to alcohol is in Canada. I’m not a Doug fan, but he is squarely in the corner of regular folks on this one.

    • Robert White says:

      Yeah right, Ford is the most constipated politician around. Being in the same ‘corner of regular folks’ is only true if he eats his fiber and drinks his prune juice, Doc.

      ‘regular folks’ lol

      RW

  7. Eastern Rebellion says:

    It was a brilliant piece of marketing. For those that were bothering to find out, the minimum price in Ontario that you could sell beer at was already only $1.25. So by lowering the cost a whole .25 cents, Doug got millions of dollars of free publicity, especially from the “tut-tutting” CBC set. They couldn’t wait to breathlessly bring on their trendy artisan friends to talk about how their “creations” were being devalued. It reminded me of a wine snob I heard once who commented that there were too many people drinking white wine who should be drinking beer. The chattering classes continue to underestimate this guy, and still haven’t got a clue as why he has been successful.

  8. MitchB says:

    Much froth about a tempest in a beer cup. This is only about a minimum price floor. The change now makes Ontario competitive to Quebec. Floor price of light beer in Quebec is $24. 37 and locked to inflation. It allows retailers to compete by having “sales” – you know like the things others advertise in newspaper flyers. Have you ever bought stuff on sale Robert? Rants about Ontarians being too poor to afford beer because of Ford the “feudal lord” is partisan hypocrisy to the max!

    • Matt says:

      What?

      You didn’t know life in Ontario suddenly became unaffordable on June 7th 2018 at approximately 9:20pm (the time news outlets declared a Ford PC majority)?

      Up until the it was all rainbows, unicorns, lollipops and sunshine here.

      • MitchB says:

        Too funny Matt! Love your comments BTW.

        Same thing happened to all Canadians on October 19th 2015 around the same time when we all felt a sudden ray of sunshine beaming up our butts.

    • Robert White says:

      Partisan zealotry makes the world go round, BuckO. It’s the fake so-called ‘non-partisans’ that piss me off, wonderboy.

      And Feudal Lord Ford is offering buck-a-beer to appear to be benevolent. Benevolent dictators & Feudal Lords like to offer the pretence that they are all businesslike & more ‘progressive’ than the ‘progressives’ but the fact remains that our esteemed neophyte premier is a cruel curmudgeon like his neoconservative corporatist crony Ponzi Capitalist stooge buddies that offshored the entire wealth of Apple Inc. so that shareholders would not have to pay tax to support infrastructure investments by governments that sold their wares for greed alone and nothing more than that.

      Fezziwig would not be impressed my dear sir!

      No soup for you!

      RW

      • MitchB says:

        oh wow – quoting Dickens really drives your point home. Says a lot about the mindset.

        • Robert White says:

          You do know that the Establishment jailed his father for debts and placed him in Debtors Prison, eh? Dickens harbored contempt for Capitalists throughout his entire life due to what he witnessed as a youth. The pen is truly mightier than the sword when we talk about Dickens. His pen has killed more Capitalists than Richard ‘the Gorilla of Wall Street’ Fuld.

          Of all the writers in this world I, for one, think Dickens is in the top 10.

          RW

  9. James Smith says:

    Must be nice to see all your work of 10+ years going down the drain one two-4 at time. Good to know that substance abuse was never a topic of conversation in any of Mr Ford’s past life. BTW, how may water bombers will a Buck a Beer buy? I’m sure the good folks north of his cottage would like to know.

  10. Robert White says:

    Oh yeah, another point, I drink Faxe Premium beer imported from Denmark and not ‘oak-aged Serbian stout’ prototypical leftie beer for non-hoser types that may, or may not eat pickled cauliflower depending on how hungry they are after drinking, man. And good hose-ers don’t drink that horse urine from Brewer’s Retail anymore.

    Good hose-ers drink imported brewskies from Denmark, eh.

    RW

  11. rww says:

    In practice a nothing policy brought in for the sake of a slogan.

    Ideologically it would make sense for a conservative government to eliminate the floor price completely as inappropriate market interference.

    In reality nobody was producing beer as low priced as the previous $1.25 floor price so lowering changes nothing in reality.

  12. David White says:

    If you want to drink $1 beer drink it. If you want to drink something better, go ahead. Since we are talking beer, would love to see the Premiers show some courage and allow inter-provincial beer trade. Lots of great Quebec and BC brews I would love to try. Ontario has too many “craft” brewers who contract out their beer making and focus exclusively on their social media presence. More beer makers, less beer marketers at any price. And while Ford is at it, open up the bloody MLS system. Why are people who wish to buy/sell houses at the mercy of the realtor cabal who hoard buy/sell data like the rest of us are too dumb to understand it. I can know how much a doctor bills OHIP but I cant know the buy/sell history of a house unless I call a “professional”?

    • Robert White says:

      “It’s a BIG club, and you ain’t in it” , but NOT because you can’t understand the data, David. You ain’t in the club because ‘only the little people pay taxes’ and the Oligopolist class does not want to belong to any club that has you as a member, bro.

      It’s not a matter of professionalism when Hyman Minsky’s Late Stage Ponzi Capitalism manifests on a global scale. RE is currently suffering the ‘Minsky Moment’ and all realtors in CANADA are frightened out of their socks at what comes next on the regulatory front.

      RW

  13. merrill smith says:

    Of course his supporters are happy with this. That’s why they’re his supporters. But how many Liberals or Dippers will change their votes because of this? And how many Ford supporters will be disillusioned when they find that the brewers aren’t interested in selling beer at a loss?

  14. Matt says:

    One of the most vocal mirco breweries against this is Nickel Brook. They tweeted:

    Nickel Brook Brewing
    ‏Verified account @NickelBrookBeer

    Nickel Brook will not take part in the proposed “buck a beer” plan. We’ve always been about quality & don’t aim to change that now, or ever. We have no intention in joining a race to the bottom. We stand with our fellow craft brewers in opposing this gimmick by Ford.
    11:50 AM – 7 Aug 2018

    Turns out they got $200,000 in taxpayer money from the province in 2016.

    Maybe Nickel Brook shouldn’t be talking down to people who can’t afford their over priced beer considering they got $200,000 of those same people’s tax dollars.

    • James Smith says:

      John, was Burlington entrepreneur of the year in 2014(?) might be off by a year, He’s built his business by hard work and innovation an moxie. Scraped by, like many of us small business people with personal loans & 2nd & 3rd mortgages. Like many craft brewers and other innovators they have taken advantage of incentives offered to them by government. BTW per bottle of beer craft brewers employ far more people than Brach plant Belgian & Brazilian corn syrup industrial suds “FOLKS” do.
      John didn’t inherit his business nor did he cut off his brother’s widow.

  15. J.H. says:

    Boy, reading all comments, the Ford government mandate, with a 75 seat majority, is going to a long hard slog for all the downtown TO latte Lifters, the Dipper & Liberal partisans and of course the Media at Queens Park, or at least those that still have a job.
    Meanwhile we #Deplorables could care less about their faux outrage and their pissing and moaning into their beer or lattes.
    And all the polls would indicate we are in the majority by a country mile.
    Whine on!

    • Robert White says:

      If you read the polling in Jonestown and then drink the blue kool-aid you will undoubtedly be in the majority by a country mile, J.H., I agree.

      Suffice to say that when you start to piss & moan the congressman [read Feudal Lord Ford] will not be there to comfort you or your #Deplorable fellow Jonestown dupes that actually drank the blue Kool-Aid out of faith in just the imprimatur of the state, and ignorance.

      Way to go, BuckO!

      RW

    • Nicole says:

      Cheap beer doesn’t make the hydro any cheaper and if that issue doesn’t get fixed the support will drop like a rock. There are plenty of people in Ontario not tied to any party who voted PC more because they thought the liberals were in too long and still didn’t trust the NDP. (And who were told Ford isn’t like the orange one down south) They aren’t ford nation diehards and will lose patience with the cynical ploys soon enough.

      The real monopoly to break would be Brewers Retail because it makes zero sense to let American companies control the sale of beer. Many hate the LCBO but at the very least profits go directly to the government. Brewers Retail is kind of like the 407 actually…

  16. Derek Pearce says:

    Off topic but what the hell is wrong with your candidate for Mayor in allowing this: https://www.bnaibrith.ca/city_of_toronto_rejects_b_nai_brith_canada_s_request_to_disallow_far_right_rally?recruiter_id=39793

    • Warren says:

      On it. Back to you soonest.

    • Warren says:

      For Immediate Release
      August 9, 2018

      Mayor Tory’s statement on hate rally being organized in Nathan Phillips Square

      “Hatred and acts of violence against any identifiable group have no place in this city. I’ve been outspoken on fighting hatred and discrimination in my time as Mayor and I will continue to be. City staff assure me that no permit has or will been issued for any rally in Nathan Phillips Square, regardless of when the hate rally is being organized for. The City, including the Toronto Police Service, is aware a rally being promoted by white supremacist groups and other bigots. City officials and our police will be monitoring any such gathering closely and if laws are broken or if public safety is compromised my expectation is appropriate actions will be taken.”

      -30-

      For media inquiries:
      Daniela Magisano
      416-898-3197
      daniela.magisano@toronto.ca

  17. Doug Brown says:

    Yawn. Still waiting for a really big move to improve the Province’s fiscal situation, like public sector layoffs or compensation roll backs. As an Albertan, I need Ford to attract the hysteria so less happens here next year.

    • Robert White says:

      I’m certain that Jasson Kenny & Steven Harper will generate enough histrionics & hysteria all on their own to satisfy any Albertan that anything Ford could do to ameliorate hysteria now would be countered by the absolute contagion that Kenny & Harper are about to inflict on you tomorrow, and the day after that too.

      God I despise Steven Harper!

      RW

      • Peter says:

        You may despise him, but c’mon, you miss him, don’t you? For almost a decade you could rise early, brew some java and sit down at the keyboard to do battle against the Dark Side in the name of truth and justice. Good times, good times. Now with JT and the Libs everything is so confusing, no? Very frustrating for you.

        • Robert White says:

          I have been eyeballing Harper since he & Manning became an item politically. Harper is a short-term myopic anal retentive text book Psychopath with delusions of grandeur. He has a one track limited intelligence mind and he is a George W. Bush flunky functionary that was convenient for the warmongering psychopathic war hawk neocons of the Dubya’ Bush Torture Regime [see Jane Mayer’s _The Dark Side_].

          HarpyCONS are just as dumb as their idolized flunky leader.

          I’m glad I’m a Liberal now because I no longer have to endure the mindlessness of the PC Party functionaries & ideologues.

          Plus the Liberal Party of CANADA needs me and it’s nice to feel needed in the Good Fight against the parasitic politicians that are only thinking short term like the HarpyCONS of CANADA.

          Every once in a while I send Andrew Scheer a little reminder of how short term their thinking is over there at FAKE-Conservative Headquarters in Parliament.

          Must keep them on their toes or they atrophy like Harper & Jason Kenny. I don’t want Scheer to get intellectually fat & wasted like Harper & Kenny.

          RW

  18. Phil says:

    Just did a quick look at the “Value” beers available at the beer store. The defacto lowest price for two-four of bottles is $35.90 – well above the current minimum price of 24 x $1.25 = $30.

    Which suggests “Buck A Beer” is irrelevant.

    (Caveat, maybe there’s a case of some god awful swill priced $30 for 24, but I missed it).

  19. James Smith says:

    In all of this did anyone bother to read MADD’s statement on the topic? It starts with this sentence : “Lowering the price of alcohol carries implication and risks for public safety.” I thought Mr Ford was one of those “FOLKS” who are all about public safety, guess I was wrong.

    • Fred from BC says:

      That statement says more about MADD than it does about Doug Ford…

    • Chris says:

      After taking 75% of their donations for “administrative purposes,” I’m sure gladd MADD used that remaining quarter and got around to complaining about cheap alcohol.

  20. Doug Brown says:

    I miss Harper and maintain hope that Kenney is of the same mindset. Bring on the 20% provincial budget cut.

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