Time to consider legalizing drinking in parks, Mayor John Tory says

Thestar.com
September 27, 2018
CP24

John Tory says that it may be time to reconsider a bylaw that prohibits people from consuming alcohol in parks, especially in light of provincial legislation that will make it legal to smoke marijuana in some public places.

Legislation that was passed by the previously Liberal government would have made it illegal to consume cannabis in public but new legislation tabled by Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government on Thursday will instead place the same restrictions on cannabis-users as tobacco and e-cigarette users.

That means that residents who chose to smoke marijuana once it is legalized on Oct. 17 will be able do so wherever they want, so long as it is not in an enclosed public place, a workplace or a vehicle or boat.

Speaking with reporters while putting up campaign signs in Etobicoke on Thursday morning, Tory said that the legislation governing the use of marijuana may mean that it is time to at least “take a look at” bylaws preventing people from having a glass of wine or beer in public parks.

“If that comes up and the provincial government has decided that people can smoke marijuana on the sidewalk then I think it does raise the question of people who are quite frankly already having a glass of wine or a beer in parks,” he said. “We have to be honest about this. A lot of people are doing it and they are hiding it with paper bags or something like that. And we should just talk about whether responsible people, which most people are, could be allowed to have a glass of wine or a beer in the park. We can take a look at the laws and make it subject to certain kinds of reasonable restrictions but you know, just take a look at it.”

Consuming alcoholic beverages in public is legal in many European cities and a handful of American cities but has always been prohibited in Toronto.

While Tory did not say whether he would personally support allowing the consumption of alcohol in parks, he did suggest that it may at least be time to have the conversation.

“I think it is just part of modernizing things regardless of what we do with marijuana,” he said.