Ontario Premier Doug Ford at a convenience store in Toronto in December, 2023.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
When Ontario expanded booze sales to convenience stores and gas stations in the fall of 2024, critics warned that a spike in alcohol consumption, among other ills, would follow.
The first round of data covering the period of more open liquor sales are in, and so far those fears have not become reality, according to numbers released by Statistics Canada on Thursday.
The number of outlets selling alcohol in Ontario skyrocketed in the 2024-25 period, which includes seven months after which the provincial government allowed licensed stores to begin selling beer, cider, wine and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. (Ontario already allowed some grocery stores to sell wine starting in 2016.)
The province ended the period of March 31, 2025, with more than 8,100 outlets selling alcohol, a 139-per-cent increase from the year before, even as the Beer Store, controlled by three multinational brewers that enjoyed a quasi-monopoly on beer sales, began to shut down some of its locations in the face of new competition.
At the time, many health experts warned that easier access to alcohol would lead to greater consumption and more alcohol-related harm.
Yet even as the number of retail locations selling alcohol soared, the amount they sold fell significantly in both dollar and volume terms. Alcohol sold through the provincially owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s stores and other retail outlets declined 3.4 per cent to $9.8-billion during 2024-25, the lowest level since 2021-22.
By volume, the amount of liquor sold fell 3 per cent to 1.1 billion litres, the fourth straight year-over-year decline, and the lowest volume sold since 2014-15.
The decline in alcohol sales was widespread across Canada, according to Statscan. That reflects a broader trend of younger generations shunning alcohol, which is also reflected in tumbling sales at drinking establishments. Numbers released by Statscan last month show Ontario bar sales in 2025 fell by 4.5 per cent from the year before.
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