Close all liquor stores before big events: Coastal Health

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver’s chief medical health officer wants Lower Mainland liquor stores to close before big events downtown. It’s one step further than what is recommended in both the independent and the city’s internal riot reports.

Dr. Patricia Daly says the decision to close liquor stores in only the downtown core doesn’t get to the root of the problem. “Many of those who we saw at our hospitals that were arrested were from outside Vancouver.”

“We would encourage that the early closure be expanded to those areas where you might anticipate visitors to come from for that event,” she adds.
    
The riot report found sales at liquor stores just outside Vancouver spiked before live site games, particularly those near major transit hubs like the Brentwood SkyTrain Station and Lonsdale Quay.

Daly wants a regional liquor strategy that would include shutting down stores well before big events and giving police the ability to conduct random searches on transit. Her stats, she points out, show binge drinking, especially among young people in the Lower Mainland, is a growing problem.

Daly also says liquor consumption in BC is the highest in Canada.

But BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Shirley Bond isn’t sure cutting off liquor sales region-wide for an event in downtown Vancouver is a good idea.

Even though alcohol is blamed as the major fuel of the riot, Bond says they need think very carefully about a Metro-wide liquor store closure.
    
“There were literally hundreds of thousands of people who didn’t abuse that privilege and we have to always remember there needs to be some balance here,” she says.

“So, I understand people’s concerns about the use of alcohol and the way that it played out in this particular event, but again, I don’t think we should see this as a simplistic solution.”

The independent riot report notes a lot of alcohol was bought outside downtown Vancouver and before its liquor stores closed.

“What would be pragmatic and in fact, if you look at one of the reports, it actually says that our closure of liquor on the day of the riot may have actually enhanced the problem, not helped it,” she says. “So, it’s too early to speculate whether we’d contemplate anything of that broad nature.”

Meanwhile, organizers of the upcoming sold-out Grey Cup game at BC Place in November are working with the Vancouver Police Department to make sure outdoor fan sites are not adjacent to venues with liquor licenses, as they were during the Stanley Cup final.