Issue date: 1/15/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Natalija Milicevic Bottoms up, along with prices. No longer will Ontario residents enjoy 'buck a beer'.

Canadian icons Bob and Doug McKenzie would be appalled. The favourite pastime of Strange Brew's main character just went up a few pennies. Before the winter holidays, the minimum price of beer was adjusted for the first time since October 2005, jumping from $24 to $25.60 for a case of 24.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario claimed that it was changing the prices under the "social responsibility" mandate established in 1993: if prices are higher then less beer will be consumed.

Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan openly pushed for the increase in price. Reports released last July showed that the cost of beer was potentially increasing due to escalating fuel prices and the rising cost of beer ingredients. Prices such as those of malted barley and hops, beer's main components, have more than doubled in the past year alone.

Although breweries have been trying not to tamper with the "buck a beer" pricing, last July it seemed increasingly clear that they would have no choice. Along with the rising price of ingredients, transportation costs - both for delivery of products to the brewery and for transportation to stores - have skyrocketed with the mounting price of fuel.

Last July a higher minimum price for spirits was put into effect and generated an additional $1 million dollars a month in sales for the LCBO. However, a spokesperson for Minister Duncan recently stated that the LCBO's latest price increase for beer was "totally driven by social responsibility." Furthermore, Chris Layton, a spokesperson for the LCBO, told The Ottawa Citizen that "the concept is that if prices are low, consumption goes higher. People buy more and drink more."

Ontario is not alone in its efforts to promote "social responsibility." Nova Scotia's government has recently declared that no alcoholic beverage can be sold for less than $2.50.

Government officials had been discussing the modification of alcohol prices since a drunken brawl in Halifax on Christmas Eve 2007 resulted in the arrest of 38 people. Doctors at Capital Health's emergency medicine department in Halifax were also pushing for a higher minimal price on alcohol because of the ever-increasing number of patients that were suffering from alcohol-related injuries. Numbers were especially high on Sundays and Mondays, when bars offer cheaper drinks.

Although price increases are clearly beneficial to producers, it will be a while before statistics show whether or not the increase will reduce consumption, as promised by both Dwight Duncan and Chris Layton. However, what is clear is that the inflation which has affected the breweries is now affecting consumers, as was anticipated last July.

But "social responsibility" and inflation are both irrelevant to outraged beer-drinkers who must now grapple with having to pay an additional $1.60 for their case of 24.

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