‘Dumb as a Bag of Hammers’: Ontario Premier Doug Ford Dumps a Bottle of Crown Royal Whisky In Protest of Factory Closure

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks to reporters following the First Ministers Meeting at the National War Museum on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ontario Premier Doug Ford made a splashy statement against spirits giant Diageo on Tuesday, following news that the company would be closing its Crown Royal whisky bottling plant in the town of Amherstburg. The closure is expected to jeopardize over 200 jobs in a community with a total population of roughly 24,000.

“You hurt my people, I’m going to hurt you. You’re going to feel the pain in February when these people don’t have a paycheck, and I’m going to stand up for the people of Ontario,” Ford said during a press conference. “You know something, I always say ‘Smart people aren’t too smart,’ and you guys are about as dumb as a bag of hammers for doing this.”

Ford then unwrapped a bottle of Crown Royal whisky and poured it onto the ground, triggering a round of applause from workers gathered in the background. “This is what I think about Crown Royal. That’s what they can do,” Ford said. “And I think everyone else should do the same thing.”

Though Ford didn’t specify what kind of “hurt” he might inflict on Diageo, the implications were clear as day. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is a government-run agency responsible for supplying alcohol to nearly 40% of Canada’s population. Ford last flexed his muscle within the LCBO to enact a ban against American-made liquor, resulting in double-digit losses for brands like Jack Daniel’s. At several points throughout the press conference, Ford emphasized that the LCBO is Diageo’s largest customer in America, suggesting that a boycott may be in the works.

Diageo announced the closure at the end of last week. The company is also responsible for Crown Royal facilities in Gimli, Manitoba and Valleyfield, Quebec, the latter of which will reportedly handle bottling for Canada and non-U.S. export markets from February onward. Diageo maintains that the whisky will continue to be mashed, distilled and aged in its home country of Canada.

“We appreciate our dedicated Amherstburg employees for their contributions to Diageo and the Crown Royal brand,” Marsha McIntosh, Diageo’s president of North America supply, said in a news release. “This was a difficult decision, but one that is crucial to improving the efficiency and resiliency of our supply chain network.”

In November, news broke that Crown Royal had paused construction on a CA$245 million (US$175.7 million) distillery in the St. Clair Township of Canada.

It’s the latest in a string of cutbacks as Diageo continues to trim its portfolio. The British conglomerate hit rocky waters last year when it reported a $158 million net sales decline, plummeting its stock price to a four-year low. The company has since adjusted its strategy, refocusing on core brands — Guinness, Don Julio, Johnnie Walker — while selling off lesser-known names like Safari Liqueur and Pampero Rum.

Crown Royal is by all accounts the best-selling Canadian whisky in the world, selling over 7.7 million nine-liter cases in 2023 alone. Despite layoffs behind the scenes, the brand has kept up momentum in the headlines, releasing a chocolate-flavored offering at the end of August and a Caribbean rum cask-finished whisky a few months prior.