The LCBO says it will finally begin seeking out a new Ontario-based supplier for its paper bags, more than a year after Premier Doug Ford ordered it to drop the Quebec bag distributor it selected and buy local instead.
A contract worth more than $10 million between Rosenbloom Groupe Inc. and the Crown corporation was signed last year to supply bags to stores across Ontario, after Ford told the LCBO to scrap its environmental push to eliminate single-use bags altogether.
When the deal was agreed in October 2024, Ford wrote to the LCBO telling it to replace the agreement “as soon as possible” and prioritize an Ontario company instead.
The province’s alcohol retailer has been silent since then on how it plans to fulfil the request and whether or not it would tear up the agreement.
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Now, a spokesperson for the LCBO has confirmed it “will be issuing an RFP” limited to Ontario companies to replace the deal with the Quebec company.
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They said the new contract would be in place by the summer of 2026 and the government said the process of soliciting bidders would begin in the new year.
While the LCBO did not respond to questions asking whether the deal with Rosenbloom Groupe would end early, the government indicated there would be no extra cost to replacing the deal.
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The scramble to sign a paper bag contract at the Crown corporation began in early 2024, after Premier Ford suddenly announced he wanted to LCBO to bring paper bags back into its stores less than a year after they were removed.
The LCBO stopped offering paper bags to customers in September 2023, a move it said would help its environmental ambitions and remove 135 million bags from annual circulation.
The premier’s office suggested purchasing a reusable bag at the store was unfair “at a time when many Ontario families are already struggling to make ends meet.”
Internally, staff tossed around the idea of forcing the LCBO to limit its procurement to an Ontario-based company as part of a push to boost the provincial forestry sector.
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But when the contract was announced, a Quebec company had won the deal.
Ford said that the decision went against his government’s direction for the LCBO to prioritize Ontario.
“While our immediate priority is to promptly get paper bags back into stores using the selected vendor, I am directing the LCBO to also initiate a new tender process as soon as possible that will be limited to Ontario suppliers,” he wrote in a letter to the Crown corporation.
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