The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is a Crown agency that retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout the Canadian province of Ontario. It is accountable to the Legislative Assembly through the minister of finance. It was established in 1927 by the government of Premier Howard Ferguson to sell liquor, wine, and beer. Such sales were banned outright in 1916 as part of prohibition in Canada. The creation of the LCBO marked an easing of the province's temperance regime. By September 2017, the LCBO was operating 651 liquor stores.