To out-scrooge Scrooge.

At the risk of being labelled a “party-pooper”, I have a bone to pick with the LCBO. Why does a government agency advertise products that are known to contribute to a growing public health crisis?

I hate to spoil the party, but …

Many Canadians abuse alcohol.

Many more are overweight and suffering silently from type-2 diabetes or pre-diabetes (and likely don’t know it).

Both alcohol and sugary carbohydrate foods are known to contribute to insulin resistance and the Metabolic Syndrome which manifests as a raging epidemic of chronic diseases. They account for much human suffering as well as huge slices of our Health Care costs. The manifestations of Metabolic Syndrome are now so widespread that we generally accept them in modern culture as “the norm”.

Listen to Tucker Carlson and Dr. Mark Hyman discuss this epidemic in great detail if you are willing to invest the time.

So, why does the LCBO advertise these products?

Above is the front cover of a 208-page glossy magazine published by the LCBO. It is dedicated to advertising the full gamut of alcohol products that LCBO stores sell. The magazine promotes the products in association with delicious sugary carbohydrate delicacies. Each ad is intended to lure every drinker with a sweet tooth, including those for whom the consumption of this combination of products is both irresistible and irresponsible.

Meanwhile, the Ontario government continues to allocate about half its annual budget to Health Care while making it increasingly difficult for the average citizen to access a family physician on a timely basis, if at all.

Why does one arm of the Government of Ontario, the LCBO, promote the consumption of products that are known to fuel a health epidemic (when abused), while the largest and most crucial arm continually complains about the high cost of providing Medical services? Their answer is to steadily divesting itself of responsibility for providing “universal Healthcare”?

Don’t get me wrong.

I like spirits as much as the next guy, though I do avoid sugary foods to maintain a healthy weight and ward off risks of Metabolic Syndrome ( I am 5’10”, 165 lbs and in good health at age 73).

My beef is this.

The LCBO, as a government agency that allegedly exists for “the greater good” of all taxpayers, SHOULD NOT be advertising on behalf of the companies featured in that magazine. That is the job of those companies and the LCBO should not be promotion them on any LCBO premises, including its web site.

Crony Capitalism is the term for private-public partnerships. It exists when government agencies and for-profit corporations collude in ways that serve their mutual interests, often at the expense of others. Crony Capitalism is found in many domains in Canada’s economy where governments have regulatory dominance and corporations have successfully lobbied governments officials for market advantages and economic privileges.

As a Less Government Advocate and longtime supporter of Libertarian social and economic principles, I believe that a firewall should exist between government agencies and for profit corporations. The government agencies, where appropriate, should ONLY serve the “public” interest while corporations should ONLY serve the interests of their shareholders WITHOUT any self-serving collusion between them.

Privatize the LCBO and BEER store?

Government agencies should be forced to “stay in their lane” to the extent that their regulatory powers are needed to genuinely “serve the public interest”. If they can’t do this, privatize and regulate them.

Furthermore, create laws and enforce them strictly to eliminate all forms of lobbying between beer, wine & spirits suppliers, and governments bodies, so that they survive and thrive solely on their own efforts and merits.

Drink and eat responsibly.

Personal responsibility must play the dominant role for every person to consume food and drink in a manner that best serves their own health. There is no excuse today, in the Digital Age, for any consumer not to be informed of the consequences of irresponsible choices and behaviours.

Health care costs could be reduced if only more people stopped acting in ways that treat our Medical institutions and professionals as their backstop for irresponsible decisions whenever serious consequences rear their ugly heads.

Now, that’s enough of Scrooge.

Merry Christmas everybody!