How 7-Eleven won liquor licences for nearly all of its Ontario locations

The 7-Eleven convenience store chain sidestepped a formal review by Ontario's alcohol regulator to win approval for liquor licences at nearly every one of its locations in the province.

It means 7-Eleven Canada has the green light to sell beer, wine and coolers for onsite consumption at more than 50 stores once each loca‐ tion passes a routine inspec‐ tion by the Alcohol and Gam‐ ing Commission of Ontario (AGCO).

So far, 7-Eleven has only started selling alcohol at two locations, in Leamington and Niagara Falls.

"We are excited that our li‐ censed restaurant format continues to grow," said Marc Goodman, 7-Eleven Canada's vice president and general manager, in a news release announcing the start of beer and wine sales at the Niagara Falls store in mid-May.

"We're pleased that our adult guests will be able to en‐ joy a glass of wine or beer alongside their lunch or din‐ ner," Goodman added.

A spokesperson for the company declined CBC Toron‐ to's request for an interview. However, 7-Eleven gave per‐ mission to gather video and photos at the Niagara Falls lo‐ cation. A visit to the store shows the beer and white wine in locked fridges, and red wine in locked cupboards, all labelled "Employee Access Only."

The licences will allow 7Eleven to serve alcoholic bev‐ erages with food at tables in the dining section of each store. Customers are not per‐ mitted to take any drinks off the premises.

After 7-Eleven applied for the licences in 2021, the AGCO launched a formal review called a Notice of Proposal for all of the company's applica‐ tions.

That's a more rigorous process than what the AGCO goes through for the vast bulk of licence applications.

The AGCO put out Notices of Proposal for less than one per cent of the nearly 7,000 liquor licences it issued in the 2021-22 fiscal year, ac‐ cording to its annual report.

A Notice of Proposal "basi‐ cally says that the AGCO in‐ tends to review and likely refuse the application," said Harrison Jordan, a lawyer and founder of Substance Law, a firm that specializes in alcohol and cannabis licensing.

"I was a little bit surprised that every single location re‐ ceived a Notice of Proposal from the AGCO," said Jordan, who did not work on the 7Eleven applications. "It's typi‐ cally only when there's a con‐ tentious issue."

7-Eleven fought against the Notices of Proposal by taking its case to the provin‐ cial Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT).

"That essentially took the decision making out of the hands of the AGCO and put it in the hands of the LAT," Jor‐ dan said in an interview.

The tribunal approved 33 licences for 7-Eleven without a hearing, and approved 22 others after a hearing, accord‐ ing to information provided to CBC News by the AGCO. A decision is pending from one other hearing, on a location in London near the University of Western Ontario campus.

Tribunal hasn't rejected any 7-Eleven application

That means not a single one of 7-Eleven's 56 licence applications has been reject‐ ed so far.

Under Ontario's liquor laws, obtaining a licence is what's known as a "qualified right." That means the com‐ pany or person applying has a right to a licence unless there's proof that it would be contrary to the public inter‐ est. The applicant doesn't have to prove their case; it's up to the opponents to prove otherwise.

The opponents have yet to achieve that in any of the Licence Appeal Tribunal hear‐ ings for 7-Eleven locations. In fact, only a handful of the people who sent the AGCO written objections followed through by speaking at a hearing.

The hearing for a 7-Eleven in Toronto, on Bloor Street West near Keele Street, pro‐ vides an example. Although 61 individuals wrote to the AGCO with objections, only one appeared as a witness be‐ fore the tribunal: the neigh‐ bourhood's city council‐ lor, Gord Perks.

"The evidence is that alco‐ hol use is by far the most dan‐ gerous drug in our society," Perks said in an interview with CBC News.

"People are going to use it, but we have to manage how it's used," Perks said. "We shouldn't be expanding alco‐ hol use until there are better programs to support people."

His argument did not per‐ suade the tribunal.

"It is not for this Tribunal to examine the wisdom of the government's policy choices," reads the decision in the case, written by adjudicator Geoff Pollock.

"The fact that increased al‐ cohol sales or availability may create social harms is not, on its own, sufficient to deny a person's qualified right to a liquor licence," Pollock contin‐ ued, ordering the AGCO to is‐ sue a licence.

In a statement, the AGCO pointed out that the tribunal has not rejected any of 7Eleven's applications.

"The LAT asked that some licences be issued with condi‐ tions, such as serving hours. For others, the LAT deter‐ mined that no conditions be added," said the statement. .

"All the 7-Eleven applica‐ tions are moving through the process to receive a liquor li‐ cence, as long as they meet the AGCO's strict licensing re‐ quirements."

Unfilled promise of con‐ venience store beer sales

Premier Doug Ford's gov‐ ernment has liberalized some of Ontario's liquor laws — in‐ cluding allowing restaurants to sell alcohol with food take‐ out and delivery.

Ford's Progressive Conser‐ vatives promised back in the 2018 election campaign and again in the 2019 budget to al‐ low convenience stores to sell carry-out beer and wine.

But that promise remains unfulfilled. The chief stum‐ bling block: the province would face steep financial penalties for scrapping a con‐ tract that sets out the rules for selling beer in Ontario un‐ til 2025.

The head of the Ontario Convenience Stores Associa‐ tion, Dave Bryans, welcomed 7-Eleven's move to get li‐ censed.

"It's the first step in demonstrating to citizens and people in Ontario that the world won't end because fi‐ nally a convenience store with hot food is actually offering you a cold beverage, if you want to sit in the store," Bryans said in an interview.

Bryans doubts the model of serving beer and wine for on-site consumption will spread to many other conve‐ nience stores.

"Not many people would go to a convenience store to have a hot dog and a beer on a hot summer day, they would rather take it home," he said.

He is optimistic that the government will soon open the door to carry out sales from convenience stores. "We might just catch up to the rest of the world," he said.

In contrast, Perks de‐ scribes provincial policies on access to alcohol as "really out of balance."

"Ontario's liquor laws are designed to protect the rights of a business owner who wants to sell alcohol. They are not designed to manage alco‐ hol use in a way where we're reducing the harms," Perks said.

"The community, the pub‐ lic, even municipal govern‐ ments have almost no rights in saying, 'Hang on, this might be a problem,'" he said. "That's why a company like 7Eleven can just decide, 'We

want liquor licences,' and they get them."

7-Eleven also has licensed restaurants in 11 stores in Al‐ berta, including some loca‐ tions in Edmonton, Calgary and Fort McMurray. Unlike the Ontario stores, the Alber‐ ta 7-Elevens can also sell beer and wine for takeout and de‐ livery.