Should Ontario convenience stores sell booze? 112,500 people think so

Ontarians’ long-standing gripes with the province’s rigid liquor-buying laws are starting to boil over. Members of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association and booze-loving locals have organized under the “Free our beer!” banner to ask the province to allow corner stores to sell wine and beer (yes, the so-called “Agency Stores” already do so, but that’s limited to smaller communities). Thus far, they’ve collected 112,500 signatures for their petition, which they brought to Queen’s Park today. The whole project had a humble start: the petition was launched in Joanne McMurchy’s convenience store in the wee hamlet of Vanessa, Ontario (population: 80). Locals, who had to drive 20 minutes away for a bottle of wine, kept asking McMurchy when Ontario would loosen up its liquor laws. She started collecting names. It eventually spread to other cities including Toronto. Campaign reps say this is the single largest petition collected in the province—proof that Ontarians really, really want to free their beer. [Free Our Beer]

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