The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, July 9, edition that this will not be the "dry summer" the union representing Liquor Control Board of Ontario is threatening, because its monopoly on booze sales is over. A Globe Editorial says what was once a valuable union bargaining chip has been diluted by an opening-up of the retail marketplace by the Ford government. With luck, The Globe says it could spell the end of the LCBO's domination of the industry in Canada's biggest province. The LCBO and its striking workers are, at no fault of their own, caught in a time warp that successive Ontario governments have allowed to continue "out of inertia, for fear of public rebuke and for the sake of cash flow." The Globe says it has been calling for change at the LCBO since 2009. Provincial monopolies such as the LCBO or the Societe des alcools du Quebec are vestiges of the Prohibition era, when Christian moralizing about the evils of drink informed government policies on the sale of alcohol. The objection that privatization will fuel alcohol abuse is little more than a 21st century version of that mindset. The Globe says there is no credible reason for any government to control and monopolize alcohol sales.