Area health unit pushes back as Ontario moves to expand alcohol sales

As Ontario gears up to expand alcohol sales to as many as 8,500 locations, one Southwestern Ontario health unit wants to tighten measures to reduce booze abuse.

At a meeting last week, board members for Southwestern Public Health - the health unit for Oxford and Elgin counties including St. Thomas and Woodstock - unanimously agreed to receive a letter from the province's minister of finance and act on what it views as high rates of alcohol consumption in its region.

"We didn't just receive it, we're going to take further action," health unit board chair Bernia Martin said. "We want to ensure that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health
understands our position on this, that it's not an economic decision. This is a public health and a social responsibility decision."

In a letter to Southwestern Public Health, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said, "The government has remained committed to increasing choice and convenience for consumers in the safe and responsible sale of beverage alcohol."
 

Bethlenfalvy said the government will take measures to ensure the new marketplace "is smooth, safe and stable," adding the government is providing an additional $10 million over five years to the Ministry of Health to support and ensure safe alcohol sale and consumption.

"I think the board was very clear in saying, `The province might see an economic benefit to greater access to alcohol,' (but) from a public health perspective, greater access to alcohol is not benefiting our region," Martin said.

In October, the health unit's board approved three recommendations in a report by director Peter Heywood, including:

The Ontario Public Health Association recommended last year the province reduce the density of alcohol retail outlets especially in lower socioeconomic neighbourhoods, decrease hours of sales, increase prices, reduce privatization of alcohol retailers and increase government collaboration to reduce alcohol-related harms.

But as Southwestern Public Health looks to enact strategies to curb alcohol consumption, the health unit's perspective contrasts with the provincial government's messaging for greater access and a more open market.

In December, the government of Premier Doug Ford announced, beginning no later than 2026, consumers will be able to purchase beer, cider, seltzers, wine and other "low-alcohol-ready-to-drink beverages at participating convenience, grocery and big box stores across the province," the provincial government's website said.

The expansion will allow the sale of alcohol in as many as 8,500 stores provincewide, the "largest expansion of consumer choice and convenience since the end of prohibition almost 100 years ago," the website said.

The letter from Bethlenfalvy is a response to an outline of Heywood's report suggesting residents of Oxford and Elgin counties are being negatively impacted by alcohol.

According to the report, in 2021 the alcohol-related mortality rate in Oxford and Elgin was 3.4 per 100,000 compared to Ontario's 2.5 per 100,000, with the rate among females reaching 3.3 per 100,000, almost as high as the historically higher rate among males at 3.5 per 100,000.

Also, in what the report called "very concerning," the number of women who reported drinking alcohol during pregnancy increased from 2.8 to 3.7% in 2022.

The report estimated an average of 76 deaths, 388 hospital admissions and 3,707 emergency department visits annually in Southwestern Public Health's region.

The sale of alcohol in the province at select locations was approved by Kathleen Wynne's Liberal government beginning with 450 grocery stores in 2015.

The health unit's alcohol-related harms report is included in the agenda for Woodstock city council's meeting on Thursday.