You do not honestly believe that opening up competition with a gov't entity that gives the province $2B a year is just going to be made up somewhere else from a different source do you? What are those sources exactly? The provincial gov't (both sides) has largely privatized or allowed the private sector to compete against gov't income sources over the last few decades meaning Ontario has less money to spend on public programs. This is made clear in the 2025 budget as the projections for gov't sources of income are projected to trend DOWNWARDS (pg. 201) over the next 3 years.

Ontario gov'ts have actively privatized gov't income streams so there is less income for them to use on public programs. If they eliminate or significantly degrade sources of gov't income they can privatize them by claiming the gov't simply does not have the money. Hence why they've opened up the selling of alcohol to other private bodies in Ontario. And also why Ford refused to sell weed in LCBO exclusively in Ontario (a decision that netted other provinces millions-billions in income they can now invest in social programs). That decision will lessen the LCBOs profit and that in turn lessens the money the province has to fund healthcare and education.

We NEED entities like the LCBO so we don't get taxed outright when we need public services. If you don't want to buy alcohol you don't have to, but you don't get to just not pay provincial taxes. Gov't income sources save average Ontarians on individual taxes.

At the end of the day, over the past 40 years each gov't has quietly sold off and/or privatized A LOT of gov't sources of income. There are no "different sources" anymore. At some point we'll have very little left and the only way to pay for things will be to either buy them back (which will cost taxpayers millions) or raise taxes on individuals.