If Ian Baillie, executive director of Alliance of Beverage Licensees B.C. has his way, Ontarians may have more choices when it comes to where they purchase their libations. But don’t expect to be grabbing bottles of Grolsch from corner store shelves any time soon.

Baillie is delivering a speech to the Economic Club of Canada today where he will argue in favor of allowing private alcohol retailers to open up in Ontario. However, unlike Tim Hudak, he’s not suggesting convenience stores stock up. Instead, Baillie says a pairing of privately-run liquor stores and existing LCBO locations could result in an additional $1 billion in sales revenue for the province. Think of it like a cocktail.

Such a move would mirror how alcohol is sold in B.C., which Baillie says is a way to “create better choices for producers to sell and for consumers to buy.”

According to the Toronto Star, last year’s LCBO net sales reached $4.71 billion.

[via the Toronto Star]

—–

Josh Sherman is a Toronto Standard intern. You can follow him on Twitter at @joshuaxsherman.

For more, follow us on Twitter @TorontoStandard and subscribe to our newsletter.