Home · Economy & Business · Business · Selling Suds: The Beer Industry in Canada
Topic spans: 1961 - 2005
Selling Suds: The Beer Industry in Canada
Canadians love their beer. And from the time Canada's first brewery opened in the 1600s, the history of our beer industry has been an intoxicating one. Mergers and acquisitions, questions over suitable advertising, debates about the shape of our bottles, and the emergence of microbreweries — these are just a few fascinating topics in Canadian brewing history. So sit back, raise a glass and enjoy as the CBC Archives looks at Canada's beer industry.
Topic image © iStockphoto.com/plainview
16 television clips
9 radio clips
Molson merges with Carling
Broadcast Date: Jan. 18, 1989
And then there were two. The industry that was once dominated by three major breweries is now down to two major players. Molson and Carling O'Keefe have just merged and the new company — which will retain the Molson name — will control over half of the Canadian beer market. What will this mean to the industry? To Labatt? And to the workers at the Molson and Carling plants? These are the questions asked in this 1989 clip from The National.Molson merges with Carling
• In April 1987, Australian conglomerate Elders IXL invested heavily in the Carling O'Keefe company. Carling O'Keefe subsequently merged with Molson, as shown in this clip. The newly formed company was renamed Molson Breweries Canada.• With the 1989 merger, Molson Breweries Canada became the sixth largest brewery in North America. Seven Canadian plants, including Montreal's O'Keefe plant and Toronto's Molson Fleet Street brewery, were closed due to company reorganization.
• When the Saskatoon Carling O'Keefe factory closed its doors, former plant workers banded together. Peter McCann, the former plant manager, and fifteen of his former employees invested their severance pay and savings into starting up their own brewery; the successful Great West Brewing Company, which is still around today (2004).
Molson merges with Carling
Medium: Television
Program: The National
Broadcast Date: Jan. 18, 1989
Guest(s): Louis Bolduc, Marshall Cohen, Ted Kunkel, Ian Osler
Reporter: Tom Kennedy
Duration: 2:17
Last updated:
July 28, 2004
Activez le Javascript sur votre navigateur...
25 clips in this topic . page
Television
2:15
March 30, 1972
The Canadian navy ends a centuries-old tradition of plying sailors with rum.
Television
1:42
Aug. 4, 1978
Seven years after the Molson family sold the NHL team, the brewery buys back into hockey for $20 million.
Molson merges with Carling.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: July 28, 2004.
[Page consulted on Nov. 22, 2009.]