buck a beer

Doug Ford says buck-a-beer coming to Ontario next month

Buck-a-beer is coming to Ontario for Labour Day. 

In the midst of ongoing protests, the Ontario government's fight against federal carbon taxing, and the slashing of city council members in half, Doug Ford has announced his newest, super high-priority policy via Twitter: bringing back buck-a-beer, just like he promised.

The premiere took to Twitter yesterday — which happened to be International Beer Day — to announce that the policy will come into effect this Labour Day weekend. 

To be fair, Ford's spring election campaign essentially revolved around the McGuinty-Hudak era policy of lowering the minimum price of beer to $1 from $1.25, so we can't say we weren't expecting it. 

But in the wake of Ford ditching the basic income pilot, cuts to school repairs and disability funds, and his controversial sex-ed curriculum change, people are wondering if cheap beer is really what everyone needs right now. 

According to the CBC, Ford's government has plans to announce more details about the policy this Tuesday, which will apparently only apply to bottles and cans of beer. Not included is the price of draft beer or the cost of bottle deposits.

Brewers also won't be forced to lower their prices if they don't want to, and according to the CBC's source, the government will be trying to persuade those who don't with an incentivized "buck-a-beer challenge". 

Ford's government is also prioritizing the expansion of beer and wine sales to grocery, corner and box stores in Ontario — something he promised to do in his Throne Speech last month.  

Lead photo by

Jesse Milns


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