What’s the government doing in the booze business anyway?
Prohibition in Ontario existed from 1916 to 1927. The results here were similar to those elsewhere – the black market thrived and ordinary citizens casually broke the law whenever and wherever they had the chance. When prohibition laws were repealed, rather than learning the lesson that you can’t legislate your own peculiar version of morality, the LCBO and LLBO were created along with slightly insane and incredibly inconvenient regulations designed to keep the masses safe from the eternal damnation that would likely result if normal citizens had free access to alcohol. For example, until about 1970, Ontario’s bars were required to have a separate Ladies entrance and a room where escorted gentlewomen might enjoy a beverage with a respectable male companion. Otherwise, alcohol-inflamed men might endeavor to take liberties… horrors! Likewise, lest maddened drinkers fall to unseemly brawling, it was forbidden for a patron in a bar to ever stand up with drink in his hand. If the patron wan
