Ah! I thought ABC was a convenience store or something. If you think that's f-ed up, take a trip to Ontario sometime! You can only buy alcohol at provincial government owned liquor stores. There is no beer and wine available at groceries or variety stores. The Beer Store network is owned by a co-operative of breweries (before being renamed "The Beer Store" they had the catchy moniker "Brewer's Retail") and there are a few privately owned wine shops operated usually by vineyards. Otherwise people buy their wine at the liquor store. Some of the larger liquor stores have a section known as "Vintages" which actually has a really good wine selection.
IIRC, the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) is one of the largest wholesale purchasers of spirits in the world and their buying power means that even with the higher sin taxes, the cost of booze isn't too much higher than places without sin taxes. I don't really mind the government liquor stores. Billions and billions of dollars in profits go right into the provincial treasury. When the Conservative government started privatizing some services, they took the liquor stores off the table because of the profits. Then they cut income taxes.