Straight Up: The Issue of Alcohol in Ontario

A documentary exploring the peculiar system of alcohol retail and distribution in Ontario, Canada. We’ve traveled all over the world, and we are fans of good wine and especially tasty craft beers. We came to make this documentary with a lot of the same simple questions that many people have about the alcoholic beverage retailing system in Ontario. Why does it seem like there are a lot of products we see elsewhere that you simply can’t get in Ontario? Why is the same product in Ontario often so much more expensive than just across the border in New York or Michigan, or even Quebec? Why can’t we open a craft beer store of our own? Why does the Ontario government allow three foreign-owned companies to operate a near monopoly on 80% of the beer sales in the province?