Let it never be said that this columnist isn't willing to get out there, put in the legwork, and do the kind of hands-on reporting that is essential to keep TVO Today readers informed.
Besides: I needed a loaf of bread, anyway.
This week, Premier Doug Ford announced that beers, coolers, and prepared cocktails would be approved for sale by convenience stores and big box retailers; when combined with other recent steps toward booze liberalization, only spirits will remain the exclusive domain of the LCBO. This has been a long time coming. Liberalizing Ontario‘s alcohol sales had been a marquee promise of the Ford government for as long as there has been a Ford government. We all have to be reasonable and acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic was a curveball that disrupted all kinds of government plans and agendas all over the world. But this was still a bizarre situation. What the hell was taking so long? Why was the Ford government, with all of its populist focus on pleasing voters with alcohol-related initiatives, dragging their feet on this?
Part of it had to do with the existing contract with The Beer Store, the company that had long been the primary provider of beer in this province. Figuring out how the province could get out of its deal with The Beer Store was undoubtedly a complicating factor that needed a lot of time, compounded by the disruption of the pandemic. But you cannot tell me at least a big part of this dragged-out process has been overcoming how entrenched Ontario‘s early-20th-century-style booze laws are — not only on the books, but also in the mindset of Ontarians.
We are our own enemy here, folks. There is never going to be a moment in this province when everyone is comfortable with us having laws that are absolutely routine in other jurisdictions. You could even hear some of this at the premier's press conference on Thursday, when reporters were asking him about what restrictions should be placed around when and where booze could be sold. Ford, to his credit, noted that all Ontario is looking to do is to treat its citizens like adults and adopt laws that are already in place in jurisdictions like Quebec.
That was the right answer. But the fact that the question was even asked speaks to the problem that we have.
So back to that loaf of bread.
Just down the road from my house, there is a large, independently operated convenience store. Not part of any chain, it’s just run by the same family that’s been running it for years. It’s bigger than your typical convenience store; not as big as a small supermarket. I wanted to check out the array of items the store was selling. I’m a semi-regular customer there, but usually just when I realize we need some milk or eggs, or, as we did today, some bread. My kids like to wander over after school sometimes for an unhealthy snack, too. But that’s about all I’d ever really look for. I was just honestly curious what kinds of things were for sale.
Specifically, what kind of dangerous things were for sale.
There were some incendiary items. Things with which you could easily start or spread a fire. Tobacco products, obviously. A bunch of sharp-edged tools were for sale (razor blades and box cutters) as well as some blunt instruments (hammers and wrenches). In the household cleaning aisle there were any number of products that could be very harmful if misused, deliberately or accidentally.
I looked for, and did not find, pornography. To be clear, I meant I looked for it out of professional interest, not any intention to buy. There was none to be found; in fact, there were no printed magazines of any kind — just a few newspapers for sale at the front. The death of the dirty magazine in the convenience store seems to mark yet another data point about the decline of print media.
The point, of course, is that this small, family owned and locally operated business is already entrusted with the sale of tobacco, noxious and blinding chemicals, incendiary items, and a variety of tools and daily implements that could easily be used as a weapon. As well, you could easily purchase a variety of lottery tickets — despite all the known problems associated with gambling.
And this isn’t controversial. The same family has been selling lighter fluid, cigarettes, and gambling tickets to anyone in the neighbourhood who can show up and present an ID, if legally required, for longer than I’ve lived here.
But you can absolutely count on the fact that there will be people who are freaked out that we will soon add beer to that list.
To which I say: Okay. Who cares? This is a long overdue step — not just by the standards of this tardy government, but by any reasonable standard. The guys who can sell us smokes, porn, chemicals, fuel and (in other outlets) fireworks can absolutely sell us a case of beer or a few of those pre-made Caesar cocktails (they aren’t great, but they’ll do in a pinch). Finally liberalizing these laws not only lets Ford claim a win, and fairly so, it also finally removes a long-time irritant off my columnist’s list of complaints.
Which is great, for me. But it’s good for all of us, too: the fewer small, relatively trivial issues a government has to worry about, the more time and energy it will have to focus on stuff that matters more. It should never have taken this long to finally do the right thing on booze in corner stores; now that it’s finally done, let’s hope we start to see some progress on issues, like housing and health care, that matter more. In the meantime, I’ll look forward to buying my first beer from the place around the corner. And perhaps even a mediocre pre-made Caesar.
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