Ontario’s five largest grocery store chains are threatening to stop selling wine and beer unless the province makes sweeping changes to upcoming deposit-return rules that will force stores to collect empty bottles of booze.

In a move that could significantly harm Premier Doug Ford’s plan for convenient alcohol sales — not to mention a new bottle-recycling system — stores operated by Costco, Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro and Walmart may return their alcohol sale licenses when the new recycling rules take effect on Jan. 1, says the Retail Council of Canada.

“Given the cost and operational complexities of managing alcohol returns, some retailers are reassessing whether it remains viable to continue selling alcohol at all under current or proposed deposit-return conditions,” said Michael Zabaneh, th

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