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There are so many problems confronting the people of Ontario (homelessness, deaths from tainted illegal drugs, an underfunded and overworked health-care system, lack of affordable rental spaces) that it is surprising that the Progressive Conservative government has the time to waste on finding further ways to make beer and alcohol more available.
Premier Doug Ford does seem to have an obsession for alcohol. Remember the ‘buck-a-beer’ platform in his first election race? After taking office, one of his early acts was to extend the hours so that bars could open earlier and stay open later. After first allowing the sale of beer and wine in supermarkets, now the government has plans to extend the sale of alcohol to corner stores. When is it enough?
I have seen people protesting about the Greenbelt, about affordable rents/housing and about lack of action on climate change, but we have not seen anyone take to the streets shouting, “More alcohol now!” It seems that Doug Ford is solving a problem/need that most of the people of Ontario were simply unaware that we had.
I have a major concern about alcohol being sold in corner stores. Who is going to monitor the thousands of corner stores to ensure that they are not selling alcohol to children? The Ontario government has a very poor record for monitoring long-term care homes, health and safety in workplaces, and rarely enforces action on industries that pollute our air, land and waters.
How many alcohol inspectors would the government need to hire to keep track of all the corner stores across this large province and do it regularly enough to catch those who sell booze to underage children? Our local police have enough to do without adding ‘liquor inspectors’ to their job description — or the extra demands of accidents, drunk driving charges and attending domestic abuse calls.
This announcement of increased access to alcohol did not come with new programs/funding for drug and alcohol rehabilitation, domestic violence shelters or support for more social services. There was no extra funding for the nurses, social workers or police that will be needed to clean up the mess of boosted alcohol use related to increased availability.
We have a generally effective system of checks that keeps alcohol out of the hands of children. Allowing sales of alcohol in corner stores threatens our ability to protect our children from early exposure to this potentially harmful substance. Say no to alcohol sales in corner stores.
David Howell
Orillia
