Kinew sticks up for Crown Royal’s Manitoba jobs
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Winnipeg Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*$1 will be added to your next bill. After your 4 weeks access is complete your rate will increase by $0.00 a X percent off the regular rate.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Premier Wab Kinew says whisky drinkers must remember that Crown Royal is made in Canada.
“Crown Royal employs a ton of people in Gimli, Manitoba,” Kinew said Wednesday as he pushed back against Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who poured out a bottle at a news conference after the company announced it will close a bottling plant in his province.
In Ontario Tuesday, Ford issued a vague warning to the company, Diageo, which plans to shutter its facility in Amherstburg, Ont., next year, putting 200 people out of work. It will shift some of its bottling volume to the United States.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES Aerial photo of Diageo Canada distillery in Gimli. The company plans to shutter its facility in Amherstburg, Ont. next year, putting 200 people in that province out of work.
“You hurt my people, I’m going to hurt you,” Ford said, without specifying any actions.
Kinew called the whisky distilled in Manitoba “the pride of Gimli” and a product “that Canadians should support.”
“If you buy Crown Royal, you’re supporting Manitoba jobs,” said the premier.
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.
WAYNE GLOWACKI/ FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called Crown Royal whisky distilled in Manitoba “the pride of Gimli” and a product “that Canadians should support.”
It said that Crown Royal products will continue to be mashed, distilled and aged at its Canadian facilities, and Crown Royal bottled for the Canadian market will still be bottled in Canada.
Kinew was asked if he’s concerned that Ontario may pull Crown Royal from its provincially owned liquor stores, as Ontario and Manitoba have done with U.S. booze in response to the trade war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Crown Royal is made in Gimli, Man., so that’s something that Canadians should buy and continue to have access to,” said the premier. “There’s a whole supply chain and there’s businesses that support Crown. While we’re looking at all the spinoffs, in the future some of the reuses of what they produce there might be good for the Manitoba economy. So there’s a whole bunch of economic benefits,” he said.
The premier who’s been on friendly terms with Ford doesn’t think that Crown Royal will come between them.
“We have a good relationship, Premier Ford and I,” Kinew said.
— with files from The Canadian Press
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Related Articles
Doug Ford pours out bottle of Crown Royal over upcoming Ontario plant closure
Advertisement Advertise With Us
Advertisement Advertise With Us