City to continue its opposition to liquor being served in convenience stores

Hamilton, ON - The City of Hamilton will be continuing its objections to Hamilton-area convenience stores being provided licenses to serve alcohol on their premises. A hearing before the License Appeal Tribunal concerning licenses for the two convenience store applications has been scheduled from June 14 -17, 2022.

The move follows applications for in-store sales and consumption filed with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to permit the convenience stores to serve alcohol on their premises for in-store consumption. The AGCO is an Ontario provincial regulatory agency reporting to the Ministry of the Attorney General. It regulates alcohol, gaming, horse racing and cannabis.

The City's stance on the issue remains that liquor consumption at convenience stores is incongruent with other property uses in the area, is not in keeping with community expectations, and is not in the community's best interest.

Despite the opposition of several Ontario municipalities, the License Appeal Tribunal has ordered that the AGCO issue liquor licenses to convenience stores in those areas. In general terms, the Tribunal found evidence from community members regarding the potential harms and dangers of alcohol service at convenience stores and the wishes of the municipalities to be insufficient to deny the issuance of the licenses.

Understanding that municipalities have had little success in achieving a denial of licenses of these types by the AGCO, the City of Hamilton will seek reasonable constraints to be placed on alcohol sales at these locations. It hopes these constraints will mitigate some of the potential harms of serving alcohol at these locations.

Detailed conditions, if any, will be brought forward as part of the legal process, which can include negotiation of conditions on any liquor license issued both before or at the hearing before the License Appeal Tribunal.