Only one Ontario brewery has agreed to sell beer for a buck
Doug Ford's buck-a-beer initiative has been controversial since its inception, and most brewers are removing themselves from the situation. Well, all but one.
Barley Days Brewery, located in Prince Edward County, is so far the only manufacturer that has agreed to participate in the program.
The Twitter account Ontario 'Buck A Beer' Tracker is keeping running lists of which breweries are for, and against, the program. So far, the "against" list contains 21 members ― and counting.
We're tracking beers, breweries, businesses as part of the Ontario #BuckABeer Challenge.
— Ontario 'Buck A Beer' Tracker (@ontariobuckbeer) August 7, 2018
Our list of participating breweries: https://t.co/YyzHXfUvML
Our list of breweries actively speaking against it: https://t.co/fKPaATa6jH
Many brewers have come out against the policy, stating that they refuse to lower the quality of their product or take on the costs of the program, since they will not receive any subsidies.
"We are not reducing the tax level," says Vic Fedeli... which essentially says "we are encouraging breweries to eat the cost to participate in the 'challenge'.
— Great Lakes Beer🇨🇦 (@GreatLakesBeer) August 7, 2018
No thanks. pic.twitter.com/r5HxkrF9MH
Barley Days, the one participating brewery, was also featured in a promotional video posted to the Twitter page for Doug Ford's publicity service, Ontario News Now. The product placement may indicate that a previous deal had been struck between the two parties.
Buck-a-Beer is returning to Ontario! Remember the days of $1.00 beer in Ontario? Premier Ford does, and that’s why brewers across the province are being encouraged to take the ‘Buck-a-Beer Challenge.’ #BuckABeer #onpoli pic.twitter.com/A3Yv638moi
— Ontario News Now (@OntarioNewsNow) August 7, 2018
Bandit Brewery, based in Toronto, also asked Ford to remove a tweet image where he showed their logo. Ford's tweet has since been deleted.
Hi there, the image being used here is of our brewery and we did not authorize its use. Could you please remove it right away? https://t.co/mqu55GblXd
— Bandit Brewery (@banditbrewery) August 7, 2018
The Ontario PC government announced buck-a-beer would be in effect by Labour Day. The policy lowers the minimum legal selling price of beer from $1.25 to $1, both of which are far below the regular price of an average beer.
@fordnation
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