Council wants to alter ‘silly’ liquor law
Asks province to allow licensed restaurants to serve drinks as of 9 a.m. on the weekends
At the popular Leslieville brunch spot and bakery Bonjour Brioche, owner Lori Feasson often gets customers trying to order a Bloody Caesar or a glass of sparkling wine with their early brunch.
“And you have to say, ‘No, sorry you have to wait an hour,’ ” she says. “It’s kind of silly.” That could change if Toronto council has its way. It voted Tuesday to ask the province to allow alcohol sales at licensed bars and restaurants on weekends starting at 9 a.m.
The motion from Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth) passed 18-8.
Despite Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong accusing Fletcher of champagne socialism, Fletcher, backed by Mayor John Tory, said her request was about fairness, noting restaurants are not able to sell cocktails for early breakfast, but alcohol can be purchased in stores before 11 a.m.
“There’s a lot of brunch places everywhere, there’s lots of people that are serving meals that start their businesses early in the day,” Fletcher told council ahead of the vote. “We’re missing a whole number of businesses that also
need some help in these difficult times and that’s what this is for.”
The motion simply makes a request of the province, which could choose to ignore council.
In response to the Star’s inquiries about the motion, a spokesperson for Minister of Finance and Chair of Cabinet Vic Fedeli wrote in an emailed statement the province is “committed to improving alco- hol choice and convenience for Ontario consumers.”
At council, Mayor John Tory stood to lament that the motion was even being considered urgently, but then agreed with Fletcher in a speech before the vote there was a fairness problem.
“It does raise an issue of fairness,” Tory said. “If I can go at 9:30 (a.m.) on a Sunday morning and buy a bottle of champagne and buy a carton of orange juice at the convenience store next door and mix myself up a mimosa . . . then it really is putting at a disadvantage people who work terribly hard and who are open on Sunday morning at 9 o’clock or whatever to sell brunch and they can’t serve this drink to people who might want it.”
Fran Bell, an owner of the Lakeview, a west-end diner with 24-hour-brunch, said Ontario has “really restrictive liquor laws,” that she believes hail back to prohibition.
She said customers, especially ones who’ve had a few drinks the night before or are just a bit grumpy during a busy brunch hour sometimes get “petulant” when told they can’t drink yet.
But Bell doesn’t think restrictions on alcohol purchase makes people safer or makes them drink less.
“I think that people who drink a lot will have access to alcohol at all times,” she said, “and they’ll make sure that they get that access.”