Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is prepared to pull

Crown Royal

off liquor store shelves in the province as the whiskey’s parent company plans for a plant closure.

In August,

Diageo PLC

– producers of Crown Royal, Don Julio, Captain Morgan and Guinness, among other major brands – announced it would end operations at its plant in Amherstburg in southwestern Ontario and shift bottling operations to the U.S. and Quebec.

The company said the move is part of a global restructuring, not related to U.S. tariffs.

“Who in their right mind – any business person with half a brain – would go after their largest customer in North America,” Ford said in a news conference on Monday. “Diageo, we do over $765 million, more than any other jurisdiction anywhere in the U.S. or in Canada, and they want to close down a plant?”

Most recent data

from the

Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO)

lists Crown Royal as the second-highest selling spirit between June 22 and Oct. 11, 2025, only behind Smirnoff vodka – another Diageo product.

Diageo has been a frequent target of the premier since the announcement, with

Ford even emptying a bottle

of Crown Royal during a conference in September.

Diageo is slated to close the Ontario site next month, affecting about 200 jobs. In November, the alcohol producer reached a shutdown agreement with Unifor for an enhanced severance package for the affected workers, while looking for a new employer at the facility.

“We are pulling Crown Royal off our shelves as soon as the last person leaves that plant and (Diageo) can deal with it,” Ford said on Monday.

“And then we’ll look at Smirnoff next.”

• Email: bcousins@postmedia.com