In a stunning historical decision to be made tomorrow ( Monday), the City of Toronto acknowledged defeat in its attempt to get one cent back from the Canadian Federal gas tax. This tax has been promised for years. Instead of waiting for a political change in government, the City signed an accord with the Province of Ontario.
In exchange for distributing "Food and Drink" magazine to every household in the City of Toronto, the province has given the City one cent back from every bottle of alcohol sold at the LCBO in Toronto stores -- regardless of the bottle size.
Unfortunately, the rebate to the City does not include VQA wines nor fruit wines, but it does include the prolific "Cellared in Canada" wines.
The money, said to be in the millions of dollars, will ensure that most alcohol-related problems in Toronto will be taken care of. The bottle rebate will fuel our local economy.
My mole (Miffed Mole) in the LCBO Legal Department says that the Board is considering appealing the accord. Apparently, the Board was not consulted in the matter and considers any abrupt changes like this without consultation to be highhanded and arrogant. But as Miffed said, "The pot calls the kettle..."
Mayor David Miller was pleased with the accord, saying that it was "acceptable". SheeLa Pure-Swirling Dervish, head of the Wine Writers group, said that this means the end of wine writers in Toronto, its home base. "If EVERYBODY gets that overstuffed publication, then nobody is going to want to pay to read other mags." The editors of Tidings, Vines and Wine Access magazines (actually, the same person edits all three) concurs. His resume has already been posted on my website...
More on this as it develops. The Grate McGuinty beams on...
Chimo! www.deantudor.com
No comments:
Post a Comment