Ontario budget 2016: Booze sales going online by mid-2016

You could soon buy booze in Ontario with just a few taps on a smartphone.

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A small item in Thursday's provincial budget said the LCBO is working on creating an e-commerce platform for consumers to order alcohol that should be up and running by mid-2016.

"It will provide consumers with access to a wider variety of products, as well as the flexibility to order online and pick up products in store or have them delivered to their home," reads the four-paragraph budget entry on the program.

A spokesperson for the LCBO would not divulge details of the program Friday, saying that an announcement would come "later this year."

"The program is currently in the development and testing stage, and as such it is premature to discuss details of the program," Christine Bujold told CBC News in an email.

Last spring, the Premier's Advisory Council on government assets endorsed the LCBO's e-commerce plan. However, the brief mention in Thursday's budget was the first time an implementation timeline was made public.

While details are scarce, LCBO executives made a presentation about the program to an e-commerce trade symposium last December.

A link to the presentation on its website says the LCBO aims to"to deliver an online and e-commerce beverage alcohol experience like no other and to be recognized amongst the best online retailers in the world."

The LCBO wants to offer "the world's best and most extensive assortment of beverage alcohol."

The presentation that product will be available via a website and an app.