Ontario quietly moving ahead with plan to sell beer in corner stores
www.theglobeandmail.com
The Ontario Public Health Association warns the move could lead to more consumption and other harms

The Ontario Public Health Association … cites multiple studies showing that increases in the number of places where alcohol can be bought in Ontario, and in other jurisdictions, have already led to more consumption and more of the harms that come with it, such as suicides, drunk driving, emergency-room visits and higher rates of cancer.

I enjoy booze, but I like that it’s hard to get. I don’t need any more encouragement to mess up my liver.

  • nbailey@lemmy.ca
    1·
    1 year ago

    It’s sad that our regulations about alcohol sales are so restrictive, but it’s unfortunately very necessary because of how our built environment exists. It’s correlated with drunk driving deaths because there’s not enough ways to get home that aren’t driving. We can’t really fix one without the other. I’d love to have a European-style picnic with wine I bought at the store on the corner, but that means at least 10% of the people on the road are going to be drunk driving at any given time which isn’t ideal.

    • sapetoku@lemmy.ca
      1·
      1 year ago

      Yo can buy wine and beer in corner stores and drink in parks all over Quebec and it’s not a problem. Ontario isn’t different, except for the persistent smell of prohibition (which started in Ontario!).

      They said the same thing about weed stores and there hasn’t been any increase in accidents.

      Those who want to drink will drink, making it more accessible won’t change that. It’ll be nice not having to drive multiple kilometres to get a sixpack.

    • INTERNET_RYAN@lemmy.ca
      0·
      1 year ago

      This means we’d actually have to make our justice system actually punish drunk and careless driving. The best way to commit murder in Canada is with a car, you will get out in a couple of years!

  • nelsondelmonte@lemmy.ca
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m in favour of this, if for no other reason than the Beer Store needs to die, or at the least the sweetheart deal with the province needs to. Absolutely ludicrous that a company owned by foreign corporations is granted a monopoly over the sales of 12 and 24 packs of beer and distribution rights to restaurants and bars. They’ve done far too good a job of fooling the public into thinking it’s government run while they fleece us and lobby away our choice.

    • jerkface@lemmy.ca
      0·
      1 year ago

      Not worth it. Add a bunch of actual societal issues to fix an ideological issue (oh no, a foreign capitalist instead of a domestic one) that won’t actually benefit anyone here.

      • nelsondelmonte@lemmy.ca
        0·
        1 year ago

        This feels like pearl clutching to me…are there any stats to support that things are measurably worse in Quebec where they’ve had beer in convenience stores for ages?

        • jerkface@lemmy.ca
          0·
          1 year ago

          Are you seriously asking if the FRENCH drink more than Ontario, the most boring and repressed place in all of Canada? I mean I don’t know but my gut says yes?

          Okay, let me google that for you… In 2021-2022, Canadians drink 3.9 beers a week. Ontarians drink 3.7 beers a week, and Québécois drink 4.3 beers a week. So yes, there is a significant difference, but I am not qualified to say why, and I’m not likely to accept that you are, either.

          Incidentally, I also learned that ten years ago governments in Canada earned $441 of tax revenue a year from alcohol from each drinking age Canadian. That’s not nothing. So DoFo might believe he has an incentive to increase drinking to improve his short term outlook, rather than actually looking out for our best interests.

  • lexcyn@lemmy.ca
    1·
    1 year ago

    Isn’t that his plan, though, to make us all stoned and drunk as much as possible to ignore what he’s doing to our province?