The SAQ is about to start cutting the prices on most of its wines in an effort to correct a long-standing complaint among Quebec wine lovers — that wine is always much cheaper in Ontario.
SAQ chairman Alain Brunet suggested as much in an interview with Radio-Canada, saying the process of achieving parity with "comparable markets" (mainly Ontario) will carry on over the next three years.
Phase one of the operation is expected to begin on Nov. 9, about 1,600 products will see their prices cut by around 50 cents. Other price reductions are expected to follow.
A bottle of wine in Quebec typically runs about a dollar to two higher at an SAQ store than it does at an LCBO store in Ontario.
Brunet tells the network that better, more efficient management of the SAQ's operations is allowing the liquor board to start dropping its prices, without affecting its bottom line.