SIOUX LOOKOUT – It might be wise for this northern town to “opt out” of the province’s plan to make beer and wine more readily available – if only it had the choice, says Coun. Reece Van Breda.
“I am nervous about the outcome of it and how opening up alcohol sales in Ontario and deregulating the sales will have a negative impact throughout Northwestern Ontario,” he said this week in an interview.
So, at Wednesday’s Sioux Lookout council meeting, he presented a resolution proposing that the municipality get to decide whether they want to be part of it.
After noting possible “consequences of mental illness and addictions” and their impact on communities, the resolution directed the municipality to ask Queen’s Park for “the option to either participate or not to participate in the province’s decision to deregulate this sector, similar to how it provided municipalities the opportunity to 'opt-out' of the cannabis market.”
The resolution asks that the message be circulated to Premier Doug Ford, Attorney General Doug Downey and the Northern Ontario Municipal Association.
Ford announced last month that potentially more than 8,000 new stores in Ontario will be allowed to sell beer, wine, coolers, seltzers and “other low-alcohol ready-to-drink beverages” by 2026, fulfilling a 2018 election campaign promise.
The idea “does make sense in some parts of Ontario,” Van Breda told Newswatch.
“But then again, (the Northwest is) a unique part of Ontario and this is opening up alcohol sales to private industries such as corner stores and gas stations,” he said.
In Alberta and Nova Scotia, he said, “there have been negative consequences in some communities with deregulating the alcohol sales.”
Municipalities like Sioux Lookout “should be able to opt out of this deregulation and say ‘no thanks,’” Van Breda said.
Council agreed to bring the resolution to debate at its next regular meeting in February.
