The Sarnia Observer reports that convenience store owners are pushing for the right to sell alcohol. In the same article Ex-LCBO CEO Andy Brandt “the Bandit” claims that convenience store owners, profit hungry private businesses that they are, can’t do a good job checking IDs.

Andy, if convenience store owners are deemed able to sell cigarettes, is alcohol too much of a responsibility for them? I doubt it. And don’t we already let bars sell alcohol to customers? Are you saying that bartenders are trustworthy enough to sell alcohol but those convenience store guys are a bunch of crooks? No? Cause it sure sounds like it. And doesn’t the LCBO already permit 200 or so convenience stores in remote locations to operate as agency stores, selling alcohol on behalf of the LCBO? Why do you think that convenience stores in the boonies can do a good job but not those in the cities?

I’ll tell you why. The LCBO is fighting tooth and nail to uphold its lucrative monopoly, and it’s most lucrative in the cities, not the countryside.

As for Andy the Bandit, some may recall the secret $2,100 he received each month from the LCBO to maintain an apartment over his fifteen year tenure as CEO, as reported by David Menzies in the National Post. Who are the real crooks here? The convenience store owners or Mr. Bandit?”