Bill 50 explained in plain English
Free My Rye Act (Liquor Statute Law Amendment), 2017
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 50 proposes to amend the Liquor Control Act and the Liquor Licence Act to increase the number of spirit retail stores, adjust mark-up limits on manufacturer sales, and allow spirit manufacturers to sell by the glass, while also defining microdistillers and their sales capabilities.
Bill 50, also known as the Free My Rye Act (Liquor Statute Law Amendment), 2016, proposes changes to Ontario's laws regarding the sale of spirits. It aims to increase the number of stores selling spirits, set new limits on the mark-up applied to spirits sold by manufacturers, and allow manufacturers of spirits to sell their products by the glass under certain conditions. The bill also defines 'microdistillers' and expands their ability to sell and deliver spirits to licensed liquor sellers. These changes are intended to apply to the Liquor Control Act and the Liquor Licence Act.
- Requires the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to ensure at least a 20% increase in the number of stores authorized for spirit sales within five years of the bill coming into force.
- Establishes graduated maximum mark-up amounts on spirits sold by manufacturers to the Liquor Control Board or at the manufacturer's own retail store, with lower percentages for initial volumes.
- Amends the Liquor Licence Act to permit manufacturers of spirits to sell their spirits by the glass, similar to existing provisions for beer and wine.
- Defines a 'microdistiller' based on annual production volume (no more than 625,000 litres) and other criteria related to manufacturing agreements and corporate structure.
- Allows microdistillers to sell and deliver their spirits to individuals or businesses holding a license or permit to sell liquor.
- Introduces conditions for manufacturers holding a special license to sell spirits on-site, including municipal council approval, selling only their own manufactured spirits, sales occurring at or adjacent to a manufacturing site, sales promoting the product, and specific serving sizes and hours.
- States that the Minister will annually compile and make public a list of microdistillers and their brands.
- The Liquor Control Board of Ontario
- Manufacturers of spirits
- Consumers of spirits
- Municipal councils in the vicinity of spirit manufacturers
- Individuals and businesses holding licenses or permits to sell liquor
- The Liquor Control Board of Ontario has an obligation to ensure a 20% increase in spirit store numbers.
- Manufacturers have a right to obtain a license to sell spirits by the glass on their manufacturing site, subject to conditions.
- Microdistillers have the right to sell and deliver spirits to licensed liquor sellers.
- The Act comes into force six months after receiving Royal Assent.
- The bill sets graduated maximum mark-up percentages on the sale price of spirits sold by manufacturers, which could affect the pricing and profitability of spirits.
- The bill text does not specify penalties for non-compliance with the proposed changes.
- The bill does not specify the exact date of Royal Assent, therefore the exact commencement date is unknown.
- The bill does not detail specific penalties for non-compliance with its provisions.
- The bill does not explicitly state the existing mark-up percentages that the new graduated limits are replacing or how they were previously calculated.
- The bill does not specify what 'prescribed requirements' may apply to the sale and delivery of spirits by microdistillers.
This bill amends the Liquor Control Act to mandate an increase in the number of stores authorized for spirit sales and to set new mark-up limits on spirits sold by manufacturers.
Source: Section 3 of the Liquor Control Act is amended by adding the following subsection: (2.1) The Board shall ensure that the number of government stores... exceeds by at least 20 per cent...
This bill amends the Liquor Control Act to establish graduated maximum mark-up percentages for spirits sold by manufacturers to the Liquor Control Board or at the manufacturer's own retail store.
Source: The Act is amended by adding the following section: 3.0.0.1 (1) ...the mark-up on the sale price of spirits that a manufacturer produces and sells to the Board... shall not exceed, (a) 10 per cent, for the first 50,000 litres... (b) 20 per cent, for that part... in excess of 50,000 litres up to 100,000 litres; and (c) 40 per cent, for that part... in excess of 100,000 litres up to 625,000 litres.
This bill amends the Liquor Licence Act to allow manufacturers of spirits to obtain a license to sell their spirits by the glass, provided certain conditions are met, including municipal council approval.
Source: The Act is amended by adding the following section: 6.0.1 (1) ...the holder of a manufacturer’s licence to sell spirits to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario may obtain a licence that authorizes a manufacturer to sell spirits in accordance with this section.
This bill amends the Liquor Licence Act to permit manufacturers of spirits to sell their spirits by the glass, similar to existing provisions for beer and wine.
Source: Currently, regulations under the Act permit certain manufacturers of beer and Ontario wine to obtain a licence to sell their beer and wine by the glass. The Act is amended to permit manufacturers of spirits to sell their spirits by the glass.
Provisions from this Act will apply for determining if a spirits manufacturer is a microdistiller, with references to beer and microbrewers treated as references to spirits and microdistillers.
Source: Subsections 17 (5) and (6) and 22 (3.1) and (4) of the Alcohol and Gaming Regulation and Public Protection Act, 1996 apply, with necessary modifications, for the purposes of determining whether a manufacturer of spirits is a microdistiller, including reading references in those provisions to beer and microbrewers as references to spirits and microdistillers.
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced