Beer cans are stacked as props in front a display of milk at a press availability attended by Ontario Premier Doug Ford at a convenience store in Toronto, on Dec. 14, 2023. The Ontario Government announced that in 2026 they will allow sales of beer, wine, cider, coolers and pre-mixed drinks to be sold at convenience stores, grocery stores and 'big box' retailers.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Too convenient
Re “Opposing booze in corner stores isn’t a priority” (Opinion, Aug. 27): I spent many of my school years in a large U.S. city that had corner-store alcohol available all day and night. They were no-go places, especially after dark – barred windows, trash everywhere, with often inebriated adults staggering nearby. Staff were regularly at risk of major crime. And this was not just in the poorer areas of town.
In Ontario, however, we had a better system – the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. It was one of the reasons we had safer cities that were the envy of many people in the U.S. city in which I lived. Toronto was a particularly popular tourist destination. People loved that they could go out and enjoy the city, everywhere, day and night, without worry.
Under the new plan, what will happen when an obviously drunk individual comes to the corner store for alcohol? What happens to the staff member – how do staff respond? What happens if the buyer is a domestic abuser and then goes home to their family? What happens when a drunk buyer drives off? Will staff be sued for selling alcohol to these people?
What is wrong with measures that simply cause one to plan their alcohol purchases? We have had a good system in Ontario that ultimately benefits all of us.
Jennifer Ross Toronto
A gas station in my neighbourhood, open 24/7, houses a Circle K store. A sign informs passersby that it will soon be selling wine, beer and other alcoholic drinks. Does any responsible person think this is a good idea?
Meanwhile, the Ontario government is planning to pay $225-million to the Beer Store to compensate it for the early introduction of alcohol sales in corner stores. This is breathtakingly stupid. Given the personal and social harms associated with alcohol, it not only wastes the taxpayers’ money but also is far from being sound public policy.
Michiel Horn Toronto
Writing wrongs
Re “The power gap through the ages” (Aug. 28): I read the article by Elizabeth Renzetti about female journalists in The Globe and Mail’s history with a smile on my face. The experiences she recited were hauntingly familiar to another group of women – those who worked in the financial markets. We had to work longer and smarter to earn a place at investment dealers, insurance companies, banks and trust companies – the once-four pillars of Canadian capital markets.
Shelagh Barrington Toronto
I have always admired Elizabeth Renzetti’s perspective, along with other female journalists at The Globe, especially Robyn Doolittle, Tanya Talaga and Emma Graney. My mother, Mar Macloud, was also a journalist and worked for The Province in Vancouver but, sadly, had to quit when she got married in 1949. Company policy.
She would tell stories about being one of the only women in the newsroom and took up smoking to try to fit in. She declined her male colleagues’ offers to share a drink hidden in their desks. Like many early female journalists, she was assigned the light news and her favourite interview was with Bob Hope. I look forward to seeing more women at the table in the future.
Katie Walker Edmonton
Meddling in medicine
Re “To cure health care worker burnout, the system needs a cultural revolution” (Opinion, Aug. 26): So health care needs burnout coaches? What health care really needs is the provinces to do their job.
Their two largest responsibilities are health care and education. But they are populated by people whose apparent priority is to short those responsibilities to have funds for pet projects. That practice must cease. We need a single-payer system in which the province is the payer but forbidden from manipulating the system; they let the health professionals run their system, without reams of provincial managers. With proper funding, stress levels go down and patient outcomes go up.
Kathleen McCroskey Surrey, B.C.
Lingering effects
Re “COVID normalization cut my teaching career short” (Opinion, Aug. 26): A compromised immune system is complicated. In conjunction with what others do not see or may not understand, and cannot be validated through medical testing, life for sufferers can be devastating.
When I was in university in the mid-1970s I became very ill with a rare strain of mononucleosis. Recovery was long and I feared that my dreams of big-city living, travelling and dating interesting men would never materialize. I learned to pace myself, mentally and physically, at an early age because the virus would remain within my body. Because of this practice, I was gainfully employed and involved in a variety of interesting activities with remarkable people for more than 40 years.
However, this all changed in autumn 2015 when I was in an accident resulting in a head injury. I understand the exhaustion shared by the writer. It is spirit-crushing as now I lack the energy to keep pace in my reduced circumstances. Everything is so narrow and I must guard myself against the dark side of solitude as I live small, quietly and in isolation.
Debra Dolan West Vancouver, B.C.
Uncounted cases?
Re “Whooping cough spike spur’s vaccine push ahead of school year” (Aug. 29): There may be another reason Ontario has not seen the same rise as Quebec in whooping cough, or pertussis. As a pediatrician in Toronto, my colleagues and I are seeing a significant rise in cases but the issue has been a shortage of swabs for testing for pertussis. This may partially explain the numbers in Ontario to date.
Sharon Naymark MD Toronto
Teens and technology
Re “My teenage son still doesn’t have a smartphone. Here’s why” (Aug. 28): I intend to promote Katherine Martinko’s opinion piece by making copies of her wise, enlightening and timely parenting stand, and circulating it to every parent of teenagers that I know. At the risk of sounding cliché, her words remind us that by knowing better, we do better as parents.
Sue Rawlinson Oshawa, Ont.
Banking on it
Re “RBC stock hits record as profit soars past analyst estimates” (Report on Business, Aug. 29): Congratulations are due to the Bank of Canada. Because of the ridiculous increases in interest rates and the failure to reduce them sooner, people are losing their homes, their deposits on new homes and their hopes for the future. Prices for goods and services have reached a historic high and people are having to turn to credit cards to get by. There is a silver lining in all this. Bank profits are soaring. Again, congratulations.
David Brannan Mississauga
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