The National Post reports in its Friday, Dec. 1, edition that Ontario Premier Doug Ford is poised to finally eliminate the Beer Store's monopoly on selling cases of beer, allowing other retailers in on the act. The Post's Randall Denley writes that the Beer Store is primarily owned by Molson Coors, Labatt and Sleeman. Mr. Ford's move is a fine bit of tinkering, but the monopoly that people should really be concerned about is not the Beer Store, it is the LCBO. That cash cow of a Crown corporation delivered a $2.58-billion dividend to the government last year, a sum generated by a fat 33.2-per-cent profit margin. That is a number that would make "greedy" grocers green with envy. A recent Competition Bureau report pegged their profit margin at 3.6 per cent. Alcohol retailers in Ontario can only sell the products the LCBO provides and for the prices the LCBO sets. As long as that regime is in place, there will be no real competition in Ontario alcohol retailing. Competition will consist of nothing more than buying the same thing at the same price at a different location. Mr. Denley says it is time for Mr. Ford to do something conservative for once and get the provincial government out of the booze racket.