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Remember back on Sept. 8 when I witnessed a robbery taking place at a west end Toronto LCBO store?

I filmed the heist on my cellphone camera and managed to get the licence plate number of the getaway vehicle.

So, why are we rehashing this saga more than two months later?

Three reasons:

1. Last week, it was revealed that 2025 will be the first year in a decade that the LCBO will turn over less than $2 billion to the Ontario government. Now, why would that be? Certainly, competition from new channels such as convenience stores and supermarkets for wine and beer is a factor. (But not spirits mind you – Ontarians are not mature enough for that.)

Yet, how much of that revenue-dip was due to millions of dollars of booze flying out the door thanks to thievery? Back in 2019, the union for the LCBO workers said about $77 million was being stolen. We would wager a bottle of Scotch that this figure is much higher today thanks to the economy.

In any event, what is the LCBO doing about thievery? Well, absolutely nothing. The LCBO could hire off-duty police. Or it could revert back to a system in which customers pay for their booze before receiving the product. But no. The booze bureaucrats simply don’t care. It’s not THEIR money being lost. Rather, it is taxpayer money. So, no big deal.

2. Incredibly, I have not been able to file a police report — but that’s not due to a lack of trying. When you call the non-emergency number, you are placed on hold for forever and a day. I also visited Peel Regional Police to report the crime. Thanks to some detective work, we traced the registration of the van to an address in Brampton. But get this: the Peel Police were completely uninterested in pursing this because the crime took place in the city of Toronto.

So it was I went to Toronto Police 22 Division, which is the closest police station to The Queensway LCBO. And if you can believe it, I was told that in an entire police station, there was not a single cop available to take my information. Indeed, a man ahead of me was trying to report a theft of more than $10,000; he, too was also told the same malarkey.

Who the hell ever coined the phrase, “Crime doesn’t pay”? You are welcome to rob LCBO stores. The LCBO doesn’t care. The police don’t care. Ontario Premier Doug Fraud doesn’t care. Welcome to Ontario, where we reward the takers & penalize the makers. Sick. https://t.co/47z4xh39rL

— David Menzies (@TheMenzoid) September 30, 2025

But no worries. We could report the crime online easy-peasy. Which we did. And the police got back in touch with us very quickly – to tell us that because a weapon was used in the crime this incident CANNOT be reported online (at one point a thief threatened to use dog spray on me.)

Unbelievable.

So it was that I retuned to 22 Division recently. I lucked out. A cop was available to take my statement. It was a short encounter because given that the LCBO was the “victim”, I was informed that only the LCBO can report the crime.

It was irrelevant that I was an eyewitness and had video evidence. This is insane. What’s more, when the Liberals claim that crime is decreasing these days, we say: really? How many crimes go unreported because the system for reporting these crimes is clearly broken?

3. The third element to this story is this: even though I did all the heavy lifting during that September 8 theft – recording the theft, getting the licence plate number of the van – if you can believe it, the LCBO, according to police, did not report this theft! Nor do they plan to for reasons that elude us.

Bottom line: this saga makes for a complete dereliction of duty. And the biggest losers are Ontario taxpayers, who are the shareholders of the LCBO, a bloated bureaucracy that does not care that it’s being robbed blind on a daily basis.

What say you, Premier Doug Ford?