Provincial Tories float the possibility of allowing corner stores to sell booze

Shrewdly, the provincial Progressive Conservatives are taking the momentum established by the Free Our Beer petition and running with it. Yesterday, PC finance critic (and Thornhill MPP) Peter Shurman called for the province to hold off on plans to build 70 new LCBO stores. Instead, he said the government should move to allow convenience stores to pick up the slack by selling beer and wine. What’s more, he’s pushing for 24-hours-a-day liquor sales to be considered, if not quite implemented immediately. Could this all be a ploy to gain support for the upcoming September 6 by-elections? Probably. But we’d imagine a lot of thirsty Torontonians wouldn’t care, if it meant the liberalization of liquor sales. [Toronto Star]