bcc: [email protected]
Subject: Objection to 7-Eleven license application in Niagara Falls
My name is [name] and my address is [address].
I am writing to object to the Liquor Licence applications being made by 7-Elevens in Ontario, particularly the stores in Niagara Falls at 7270 Drummond Rd and 4025 Dorchester Rd.
I am willing to attend a meeting or hearing.
My community will be less safe if children and teens risk encountering intoxicated people – or worse, obtain alcohol — at their local 7-Eleven.
The evidence is clear: private alcohol retailers have lower safety standards than government retailers.
In Ontario, LCBO workers enforce liquor laws with a policy called “Check 25.” LCBO workers record every challenge and the reason for the challenge, and those challenges are reported annually.
In contrast, private retailers such as grocery stores are not required to track challenges and do not report those challenges. 7-Eleven has issued no assurances it would behave differently.
I understand 7-Eleven is refashioning its stores into something more like “restaurants,” but I believe these liquor license applications have another purpose: to help force open the door to take-home alcohol sales in all convenience stores across the province.
Allowing 7-Eleven to game the Alcohol and Gaming Commission and lay the groundwork for alcohol sales in all convenience stores would:
· Increase the physical and emotional harm done to individuals and families, particularly in poorer communities.
· Increase the damage, injury, and death done by drunk driving.
· Damage the province’s economy through lost productivity and increased pressure on our already over-burdened public services, especially our overcrowded hospitals and jails.
For a survey of recent studies on the negative effects of expanded alcohol availability, please visit www.opseu.org/7-eleven
Thank you,
[name]