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)
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