So the province of Ontario is finally allowing beer and wine sales in a select number of convenience stores, to which I say: “It’s about time”.

We’ve finally joined a long list of civilized nations which have allowed beer and wine sales in grocery and convenience stores for years. Beer and wine has also been sold in several other provinces for some time including Alberta, which has allowed the sale of spirits in 7-11 stores since 2021 and Québec which has allowed beer and wine sales in dépanneurs for as long as I can remember.

When I was 16 or 17, a friend and I used to ride our 10-speeds 17 kilometres from the west end to a dépanneur across from where the Museum of Canadian History now stands in Gatineau and we would each buy a case of Molson Brador.

We bought Brador because it was the strongest beer available at 6.2% and we bought it at that particular dépanneur because it was the only place that would sell a case of beer to a minor if you slipped them an extra 10 bucks. We would then ride all the back home with a case of 24 beer balanced on our handle bars. It took an hour each way.

After we returned home we would sell the beer to school friends at $2 a bottle.

Ahh, those were the days. You gotta love the 70s.

Now where was I? Oh yes, beer and wine sales in Ontario convenience stores.

This is something that is long overdue. For years, the government refused to open up beer and wine sales outside LCBOs and the Beer Store for fear of upsetting the unions.

Grocery stores weren’t allowed to sell beer until 2015. Wine and cider sales were permitted a year later. Ever since then, the province’s convenience stores have been asking for the same privilege. Doug Ford granted their wish earlier this year, and as of September 5, more than 4,000 convenience stores have gotten into the beer and wine business, including several here in Orléans.

There are many who believe that this is just another slippery step down the slope of depravity which started with the province’s decision to get into the lottery business in 1982.

Twelve years later, Ontario got into the casino business with the opening of the province’s first gambling establishment in Windsor.

It didn’t take long for the province to realize the potential revenue that could be made through gambling. It was the golden goose with unlimited potential.

Soon, casinos started popping up across the province. Then came Pro-Line which allowed people to bet on sports.

As more and more people became addicted to gambling, the province became addicted to the revenues being generated by the lotteries and casinos.

With the introduction of the Internet and the world wide web in the late 90s came online gambling. Overnight, thousands of people started playing online poker or bet-ting on their favourite sports team. Since it wasn’t regulated by either the provincial or federal governments, it was illegal, but there was nothing they could do about it.

But as the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. It took nearly 15 years, but in 2022, the province launched iGaming Ontario which manages and oversees 47 online gambling operators.

In 2018, the federal government passed legislation allowing private operators to sell cannabis in Canada. Within a year, cannabis stores started popping up like dandelion.

According to a 2021 study conducted by Deloitte, cannabis sales topped more than $3.9 billion nationwide that year, with over a third of those sales taking place in Ontario.

The question is what’s next? Psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, are currently being sold illegally in stores throughout Ontario including here in Ottawa. The province has so far turned a blind eye to these sales, but it won’t be long before the federal government legalized those sales as well.

After that the only taboo left in Ontario will be prostitution, which is technically still illegal although escort services are allowed in every major city in the province.

They’ve legalized gambling and drugs, and now you can buy beer and wine at your corner store. If there’s money to be made, you can be sure the province will consider getting involved – including in the oldest profession in the world.

(If you wish to comment on this or any other View Point column please write to Fred Sherwin at fsherwin@orleansstar.ca)