Blame it on the alcohol: Ontario finds ways to make beer more fun
Who doesn’t love beer? Nobody, that’s who. This is, after all, a province where lowering the price of beer has the potential to be an election issue. So it’s always interesting to follow the new and creative strategies the government deploys to make beer even more widely loved. The latest word from Queen’s Park is that people in Ontario will soon be allowed not only to buy beer, but to also actually carry it around with them at certain events—once the province gets around to “updating” its liquor laws. CP24 reports:
If approved, people could walk freely around events and festivals with drinks, special events can serve drinks until 2 a.m., all-inclusive vacation packages may be sold in Ontario and people could circulate in retail booth areas of festivals with drinks.
The province says it will start holding consultations on the proposed changes that would “update” Ontario’s liquor laws.
At last, Ontario will be free of the scourge of beer tents. We can’t wait until August, by which point we hope it will be legal to walk around the CNE grounds with a beer in hand. Of course, this does raise the troubling prospect of drunken Whac-A-Mole violence. (To be clear: it’s not known yet whether these changes would liberate beer at the Ex.) So we’re reassured that these changes, as always, are being packaged with increased enforcement of existing liquor laws.
• McGuinty government proposing liquor law changes [CP24]
• Province Updating Liquor Laws [Ontario.ca]
• Ontario plans to loosen liquor laws at festivals [Globe and Mail]
(Image: Queen’s Park, Benson Kua)
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/blame-it-on-the-alcohol-ontario-finds-ways-to-make-beer-more-fun/&title=Blame it on the alcohol: Ontario finds ways to make beer more fun&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/pink-palace.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_56452" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Queen’s Park to allow beer at open-air events"][/caption]
Who doesn’t love beer? Nobody, that’s who. This is, after all, a province where lowering the price of beer has the potential to be an election issue. So it’s always interesting to follow the new and creative strategies the government deploys to make beer even more widely loved. The latest word from Queen’s Park is that people in Ontario will soon be allowed not only to buy beer, but to also actually carry it around with them at certain events—once the province gets around to “updating” its liquor laws. CP24 reports:
If approved, people could walk freely around events and festivals with drinks, special events can serve drinks until 2 a.m., all-inclusive vacation packages may be sold in Ontario and people could circulate in retail booth areas of festivals with drinks.
The province says it will start holding consultations on the proposed changes that would “update” Ontario's liquor laws.
At last, Ontario will be free of the scourge of beer tents. We can’t wait until August, by which point we hope it will be legal to walk around the CNE grounds with a beer in hand. Of course, this does raise the troubling prospect of drunken Whac-A-Mole violence. (To be clear: it’s not known yet whether these changes would liberate beer at the Ex.) So we’re reassured that these changes, as always, are being packaged with increased enforcement of existing liquor laws.
• McGuinty government proposing liquor law changes [CP24]
• Province Updating Liquor Laws [Ontario.ca]
• Ontario plans to loosen liquor laws at festivals [Globe and Mail]
(Image: Queen’s Park, Benson Kua)){kind=link}
I had no idea that all-inclusive vacation packages weren’t legal in Ontario. That seems puritanical. I bet the tourist industry is looking forward to having that changed.