Ontario is set to dramatically ramp up its enforcement capabilities when beer, wine and ready-to-drink beverages hit corner stores in less than a month’s time.
So far, the Alcohol Gaming and Commission of Ontario has granted licenses to just over half the province’s convenience stores.
The agency told Global News it had approved 3,830 new licenses as of Aug. 11 — a little more than half the 6,700 stores province-wide. Those licenses have gone to convenience stores, gas stations and outlets within malls, among other places.
As the government has allowed more businesses to sell booze, expert organizations have warned that more points of sale mean more risks, stressing the need for rigorous inspections and a training regime.
Global News obtained a summary of meetings between the government and several advocacy groups, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Arrive Alive, using freedom of information laws.
MADD told the government that the AGCO does a good job of enforcement but would need more support, according to the meeting summary.
“MADD is supportive of AGCO’s work, but ACGO will need better enforcement capacity if there is a significant increase in stores,” the document said.
Arrive Alive — a similar advocacy group — echoed those sentiments, telling the province that “there is a lack of inspectors.”
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As it moves ahead with its sped-up plan to sell alcohol in more places, the government said it is listening to that advice and increasing funding for inspections for the ACGO.
An AGCO spokesperson told Global News the new money would go to greater oversight, noting it had received “additional funding for staffing” to increase its abilities to check compliance and enforce the rules.
“AGCO has therefore increased its inspection capacity by about 25 per cent to monitor the safe and responsible sale of alcohol by licensees in the expanded liquor retail marketplace,” the Crown agency said.
Arrive Alive advised the government to consider a suite of other safety measures, telling it to require all convenience store staff to undergo Smart Serve training and consider having a minimum of two staff in the store at any time for safety reasons.
“We like to see beer, wine and spirits being sold in government stores because there’s no incentive to sell to minors, to sell to intoxicated (people),” Anne Leonard, president of Arrive Alive, told Global News.
“The clerk at the Beer Store or the LCBO makes the same amount of money, whether they turn down the sale or not. Whereas, when it’s sold privately, if you turn down a sale, you just turned down a bit of profit. So we want the government to proceed very cautiously.”
A spokesperson for the provincial government said minimum pricing in the province would remain — something Arrive Alive and MADD both advocated for — as well as other standards aimed at “social responsibility” for retailers.
When convenience stores begin stocking alcohol on Sept. 5, the sale of booze will be allowed between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., with required warning signage of the health impacts of drinking, for example during pregnancy.
Store clerks will be required to complete Smart Serve training, or another recognized program, before being able to sell alcohol.
“The government will be taking a socially responsible approach to help ensure the transition to a new marketplace is safe, stable and predictable,” a provincial spokesperson said in a statement.
The ramped-up enforcement focus comes as the government faces questions about ignoring other parts of the advice it was given by expert groups.
As Global News previously reported, groups like Arrive Alive and MADD advised the province to go slowly in its alcohol expansion plan, advice the government appeared to ignore.
“They’ve all told the government to go slowly … and none of their recommendations were listened to,” Ontario NDP Health Critic France Gelinas told Global News previously.
“Not only has everybody told the government, ‘Go slow’ because there is harm that comes with the availability of alcohol and consumption of alcohol, they’ve completely disregarded that, are going fast and at the same time they have not increased the resources for the people who will reach out for help.”