QUEEN’S PARK--Randy Hillier, MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, introduced a Bill yesterday which would allow the sale of beer, wine, cider, coolers and similar beverages in corner stores and grocery stores across the province. Every province and state surrounding the Province of Ontario allows for the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores and convenience stores.
“For too long, Ontario consumers have been held hostage to the inconvenience of the province's liquor monopoly," said MPP Hillier. "Our friends and family in Quebec, Michigan, Manitoba, Minnesota and New York all have convenient options for purchasing alcohol. Adults in this province deserve the same option."
Hillier's Bill would amend the Liquor License Act to allow licensed grocery stores and corner stores to sell beverages with low alcohol content such as beer, wine and cider. This Bill would not allow for the sale of hard liquor or change the restrictions on minors purchasing alcohol.
"86 years ago, this Province repealed the disastrous experiment that was prohibition and replaced it with inconvenience. It's time for Ontario to take a step forward."
Randy Hillier, MPP Lanark Frontenac Lennox, is a co-founder of the Lanark Landowners Association, which was brought to life to address government imposition on the rights of private property owners, and to address the regressive regulatory impositions that government was bringing down upon farmers and business owners in rural Ontario.
In 2006, Randy resigned as President of the OLA in order to run as a candidate for the Progressive Conservatives. Randy was elected in the 2007 provincial election.
Randy a long-time resident of Lanark County, an electrician by trade and member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), continues to co-publish and edit rural Ontario’s successful magazine “The Landowner.”
