Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he “enjoyed watching” Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s new conference where he dumped out a bottle of Crown Royal whisky earlier this week in protest of the company closing its Ontario bottling facility.
“I wouldn’t propose to tell Premier Ford how to practice Ontario politics. He’s won three majority governments. I think he’s figured out how to practice Ontario politics, but I enjoy a relationship with him that’s cordial and personal, and I really enjoyed watching his news conference on Tuesday,” LeBlanc said, in response to a question asking for his thoughts on the viral moment.
The minister said Ford was “standing up for workers” in his province.
“I saw his news conference earlier this week. Premier Ford is effectively and articulately standing up for workers in his province of Ontario,” he said.
In a lighter moment, LeBlanc joked about some of the whiskey spilling onto Ford’s shoes.
“Did it go viral? It went on his shoes, I saw that,” he said.
Ford dumped out a bottle of Crown Royal on Tuesday in protest of the whisky maker’s decision to shutter its bottling facility in the province.
Ford called out Diageo over the shuttering of its Amherstburg, Ont., plant; Diageo said last week it was shifting some operations to the U.S. to improve its North American supply chain.
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Bottling at the Amherstburg facility intended for the U.S. market would be shifting stateside, while bottling for Canadian consumers would move to its Valleyfield, Que., location.
The Ontario facility will close in February 2026, forcing almost 200 people out of their jobs.
Diageo said it will engage with the community and find ways to support its employees through the transition and work alongside Unifor to assist unionized workers.
“This was a difficult decision, but one that is crucial to improving the efficiency and resiliency of our supply chain network,” Marsha McIntosh, Diageo’s president of North America supply, said in a statement.
The company said it will still maintain a “significant” footprint in Canada — including its headquarters and warehouse operations in the Greater Toronto Area, and bottling and distillation facilities in Manitoba and Quebec.
McIntosh added the company’s Crown Royal products will continue to be mashed, distilled and aged at its Canadian facilities.
— With files from Global’s Gabby Rodrigues and The Canadian Press
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