Ontario to (slightly) loosen liquor laws by summer: Attorney General
We’ll have that mimosa right about now, please. A couple months ago, we reported that Attorney General Chris Bentley made a point to announce that the province would consider any requests to extend bar hours for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s nuptials. Now, Bentley says that Ontario is on track to further relax its liquor laws over the next couple of months—hopefully by the time real summer weather hits. Due to overwhelming public support, his proposal to loosen Ontario’s liquor laws regarding festivals, weddings, charity events and possibly even boat cruises and patios looks like it’s going ahead.
Bentley’s proposal specifically deals with beer tents at festivals and other events: while attendees would still have to consume their alcoholic beverages within a defined area, they’d be able to wander around and do some shopping at retail stalls, drinks in hand. This means that drinking-age festival-goers can enjoy more festival offerings while drinking—we predict an uptick in impulse sales, which can’t be a bad thing for vendors.
According to the Canadian Press, Bentley also says that the government may also take a second look at restrictions on patios and boat cruises, hashing out concerns regarding the transportation of alcohol from patios to their associated establishments. Even the Ontario Provincial Police are on board with the proposal, after having initial concerns about encouraging underage drinking and creating an unsafe environment at crowded events. We can’t help but applaud these changes, even if cynics (like NDP leader Andrea Horwath) dismiss them as nothing more than vote-buying.
• Ontario on track to loosen liquor laws by summer: Attorney General [Canadian Press]
 loosen liquor laws by summer: Attorney General&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/beer-on-subway.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_69825" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Ontario’s liquor laws are probably not becoming quite this liberal any time soon (Image: Mike Rychlik from the Torontolife.com flickr pool)"][/caption]
We’ll have that mimosa right about now, please. A couple months ago, we reported that Attorney General Chris Bentley made a point to announce that the province would consider any requests to extend bar hours for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s nuptials. Now, Bentley says that Ontario is on track to further relax its liquor laws over the next couple of months—hopefully by the time real summer weather hits. Due to overwhelming public support, his proposal to loosen Ontario’s liquor laws regarding festivals, weddings, charity events and possibly even boat cruises and patios looks like it’s going ahead.
Bentley’s proposal specifically deals with beer tents at festivals and other events: while attendees would still have to consume their alcoholic beverages within a defined area, they’d be able to wander around and do some shopping at retail stalls, drinks in hand. This means that drinking-age festival-goers can enjoy more festival offerings while drinking—we predict an uptick in impulse sales, which can’t be a bad thing for vendors.
According to the Canadian Press, Bentley also says that the government may also take a second look at restrictions on patios and boat cruises, hashing out concerns regarding the transportation of alcohol from patios to their associated establishments. Even the Ontario Provincial Police are on board with the proposal, after having initial concerns about encouraging underage drinking and creating an unsafe environment at crowded events. We can’t help but applaud these changes, even if cynics (like NDP leader Andrea Horwath) dismiss them as nothing more than vote-buying.
• Ontario on track to loosen liquor laws by summer: Attorney General [Canadian Press]){kind=link}
It was just announced today that Ontario is updating alcohol laws. This means all those unnecessary barriers for events and festivals are eliminated so we can enjoy our summer weather even more! This will improve tourism and local economies.
– Festivals don’t need beer tents anymore, people can walk around freely through the event
– Restaurants and bar servers can take drinks on public sidewalks to patios
– Events such as fundraisers and weddings can serve alcohol for an extra hour until 2am
– All-inclusive vacation packages can now be sold in Ontario
– Business owners can give a complimentary drink to customers when celebrating a special occasion like an anniversary
Keerthana, you are very naive and satisfied with crumbs, or you work as a government PR flack.
These changes will make no difference to the 175 wineries in Ontario that are struggling while the Government takes more than 60 % of every cent them earn.
These changes will not give us more selection or more convenience of buying (600 stores for 15 million people?!) and will not change the government’s mindset that the Ontario wine business is their personal golden goose.