What Toronto’s mayoral candidates have to say about extending last call to 4 a.m.
Last week, a group called Extend Last Call T.O. made headlines with its attempt to rally the city behind the idea of extending last call from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. This being an election year, it was only a matter of time before someone polled the four major mayoral candidates about their views on late-night booze. The Star did the job on Sunday. Here’s what the candidates—with the exception of Olivia Chow, who hasn’t formally joined the race yet—had to say.
“Would it be good for business? Yeah. Would it create jobs? Yeah. But what are the negative side effects, the social effects, the cost on police?”
—Rob Ford, an alleged after-hours aficionado, is maybe concerned that Toronto police will be so busy chasing other rowdy drunks that they’ll no longer have time to tail him.
“Toronto is not an island—we need to look at this regionally, consult with police, then do what makes sense.”
—John Tory, displaying his famous unwillingness to say “yes” or “no” to absolutely anything.
“Right now the subway closes at 2 a.m., and even though we have a Blue Night service, I don’t believe it’s sufficient to accommodate what would happen if we had last call at 4 a.m.”
—Former TTC chair Karen Stintz, bringing her public-transit expertise to bear on the question.
“If it’s done in a way that is in the existing establishment and under the eye of regulation, it is much better than it being done in after-hour facilities that are under-regulated and unsafe.”
—David Soknacki is now the only mayoral candidate on record as supporting a later last call. He told the Star that he would actively lobby city council to make the change, should he be elected.
(Images: Ford: Christopher Drost; Stintz: Karen Stintz/Facebook; Socnacki: Courtesy of David Socnacki; Tory: Ontario Chamber of Commerce)
The subway actually stops at 1:45 am. With last call being 2am, we all miss the last train anyways. At least with a 4am last call we could leave at 5am and get home safely at 6am.
This makes way too much sense
Anyone that supports this won’t get my vote.
you’re stupid. Eveywhere in the world is like this, there’s no reason to be against this and suppor ilegal partys with lots and lots of drugs =)
The mobsters who run after-hours clubs thank you for your support!
Clearly you don’t live near any restaurants with patio’s that don’t close until 3am! If last call was extended until 4am then the loud drunks on the patio would be there until 5am, so no sleep for area residents! I wouldn’t give a crap if last call was restricted to indoors only. Patio’s need to close at midnight, if you want to continue drinking after that then take it inside!
there are actually relatively few places with last call after 2am, at least in North America. But I still think it would be cool, at least 3am