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The name Diageo may not be so easily
recognizable, but its brands certainly are.
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This European spirits company is reportedly
responsible for distilling 40% of all Scotch
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whiskey via well-known names like Johnnie
Walker and J&B,
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but it’s Diageo’s Crown Royal whiskey brand
that’s drawn the ire of our neighbors to the
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north after a recent business decision
impacting a plant in Amherstburg,
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a town on the Detroit River border with the US.
This week,
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded angrily to
reports that the spirits company
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would be closing the Amherstburg Crown Royal
bottling plant,
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killing 180 jobs in the process.
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Ford recently declared that he had a message to
the company’s CEO in France,
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quote, You hurt my people, I’m going to hurt
you, adding that Diageo leaders were quote dumb
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as a bag of hammers.
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As further evidence of Ford’s outrage,
bystanders then watched the Ontario leader dump
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a full bottle of Crown Royal whiskey onto the
ground in protest.
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He said he encouraged others to do the same
thing and to start supporting companies that
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make whiskey here in Ontario.
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Reports suggest Ford views the plant closure as
a casualty in Canada’s ongoing trade spat with
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the United States, a characterization that
Diageo denies,
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saying the decision was made well before tariff
determinations were made and has nothing to do
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with them.
Instead, the company contends that the move was
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part of an effort to streamline its North
American supply chain and also move closer to
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US consumers.
And while Ford appears to call on Canadian
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consumers to boycott the brand, a report in the
Toronto Sun pointed out that this approach
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might not be such a great plan.
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Crown Royal, they noted, is only made in Canada,
where the brand employs 500 workers,
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not to mention the company buys millions.
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Dollars of the country’s corn, rye and barley
in order to produce it.
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Despite this, Ford continues to play hardball.
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The Sun reported that as of Tuesday, his staff
claimed that unless Diageo reversed this
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decision, Ford might delist the company’s other
products, taking them off the shelves in the
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province, much like he did with American
products earlier this year when related US
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tariffs were first applied.
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I’m Anna Wells.
This is Manufacturing Now.