<p>Who doesn’t love an ice-cold beer from a bar, a pub, a liquor store… a gas station?</p><br><p>There could soon be up to 8,500 new places to buy low-alcohol drinks in Ontario, thanks to a new plan to speed up an agreement between the province and Beer Store. The cost? At least $225 million of taxpayer money.</p><br><p>Is this accelerated effort to “modernize” the alcohol market simply a play for political points ahead of a possible early election call?</p><br><p>This month, Allison and Jonathan crack a couple of cold ones and pore over the booze clues.</p><br><p>Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith</p><p>Credits: Sam Konnert (Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief), Max Collins (Production Manager), Nathan Burley (Music)</p><br><p>Background reading:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-beer-wine-corner-stores-cost-taxpayers-1.7215839" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Doug Ford's change to booze sales could cost far more than $225M</a> - CBC</li><li><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-under-the-influence-doug-ford-and-the-strange-history-of-ontarios/#:~:text=From%20before%20the%20election%2C%20through,municipalities%20to%20legalize%20drinking%20in" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Under the influence: Doug Ford and the strange history of Ontario’s liquor laws</a> - The Globe and Mail</li><li><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10170080/ontario-alcohol-sales-changes/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ontario has announced big changes to alcohol sales. Here’s how it’ll work</a> - Global</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Sponsor: <a href="https://douglas.ca/Canadaland" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Douglas</a></p><br><p>You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music - included with Prime.</p><br><p>If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad-free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. </p><br><p>Socials:</p><p>Jonathan Goldsbie on Bluesky: @goldsbie.bsky.social </p><p>Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
