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Streeters in the Six: Visitors from abroad offer opinions about buck-a-beer


Ontario has been predictably divided on the PC Party’s buck-a-beer plan since Premier Doug Ford announced his decision to lower the minimum price of beer to $1 on Aug. 7.

Some, including the Green Party of Ontario and protesters who attended the announcement, say the plan to lower the current minimum price of $1.25 is a red herring; a distraction from more significant policy changes that are in the works.

The Green Party charges Ford with distracting Ontarians with “back-of-the-napkin policy ideas” from the chaos surrounding his decision to shrink Toronto’s city council.

Breweries across the province, like Dominion City Brewing Co. in Ottawa and Great Lakes Brewery in Toronto, have argued that they already don’t sell beer at the current minimum price of $1.25 per bottle or can, and couldn’t sell any decent beer at a dollar a pop.

Ford touts the plan as a “promise made, promise kept” and insists it will encourage healthy competition among breweries and put dollars back into the pockets of beer-drinking Ontarians.

For this week’s episode of Streeters in the Six, Yahoo Canada headed to Toronto’s Harbourfront area to ask visitors to the city for their thoughts on the buck-a-beer plan.

“I can’t speak for Ontario, but in my own house we have things that are probably prioritized above that,” one America visitor said of the plan.

“I think there should be a minimum for alcoholic drinks, and $1.25 seems low to me, so a dollar is even worse,” said a Brit.

Not all of the responses dismissed the plan though.

“People in Cleveland would love a buck-a-beer. They would probably get behind that and likely elect whoever had that as their platform,” an Ohioan said.

And one Ontarian argued that the plan itself doesn’t distract from the other issues the provinces faces; media reports surrounding it do.

See this week’s episode of Streeters in the Six for the full conversation.