Spirits giant Diageo’s decision to shut down a Crown Royal bottling plant in Amherstburg starting in February 2026 has sparked backlash from Ontario Premier Doug Ford, according to an article that ran on Tuesday via AM800. During a press conference, Ford dumped a bottle of Crown Royal out in protest after expressing harsh words towards Diageo.
“The message to the CEO in France, ‘You hurt my people, I’m going to hurt you!’ You’re going to feel the pain in February when these people don’t have a paycheck,” Ford expressed. “I’m going to stand up for the people in Ontario, and I encourage all Canadians and Ontarians to stand up for the people. You don’t know if you’re next.”
Ford went on to criticize Diageo decision makers and called them “as dumb as a bag of hammers” for shutting down the plant. The Premier expressed that Canada was Crown Royal’s largest customer, and the decision to shutter operations in the country was not particularly smart from a business perspective.
Reuters refers to Ford as “a famously combative politician,” and he is a member of the Progressive Conservative party. Elected in 2018, Ford expressed that he would potentially pull Crown Royal from Canada’s sole liquor purveyor, LCBO’s shelves, according to CTVO News.
LCBO, or the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, is one of the world’s largest buyers of liquor, and serves as a government agency that both acts as a retailer and distributor of alcoholic beverages in the province. The entity’s buying power is huge, and boycotts of certain spirits could cause plenty of pain for the Diageo-owned brand.
In July, Reuters reported on the fallout after the entity removed American whiskey from its shelves, citing a 66.3% drop in sales since March. The action was a response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, and executives at the American powerhouse brand behind whiskeys like Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve, Brown-Forman, called the response “disproportionate.”
Needless to say, pulling Crown Royal from the shelves at LCBO could do major damage to the brand and it appears that Canadian politicians like Lisa Gretzky are open to the idea.
“We’re not going to stand by and let you just try and squeeze a little more money out for those wealthy shareholders at the risk of 200 people in our community,” Gretzky told CTV News. “We will take the step of pulling Crown Royal off the shelves at the LCBO.”
Those adverse to the idea believe such a boycott would be bad for business for both countries, and that has already been the case. Canadian bartenders and hospitality professionals have already felt the pressures of the American booze ban, and many are beginning to run out of whiskeys they purchased, like Jack Daniel’s and Bulleit.
As recently as late August, some bartenders have responded by raising the price of cocktails that feature American whiskey, passing the burden onto their consumers.
“It’s a premium product right now,” said Danu Social House Manager Scott Swain.
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