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MPP Andrew Dowie on alcohol coming to convenience stores Sept 5 · Kvetch & Release

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Join the conversation The Dan McDonald Show with guest host
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: John Lidkey on AM eight hundred Let's talk.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning everyone, John Lidkey here on AM eight
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: hundred ckl W hope you are all doing well. It
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: is Can you believe this? The twenty eighth of August?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Where did July and August go? I can't believe it. It
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: just flew by. Also going to blow a show that's
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: going to fly by? Is this show as it always does?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: But I want to set my sites right now to
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: next week, next Thursday. It's a big date here in
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  Speaker 2: the Province of Ontario. We will be seeing alcohol expanded
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  Speaker 2: in to convenience stores, beer, cider, wine coolers, seltzers, ready
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  Speaker 2: to drink alcoholic beverages. And you know, it's a big change.
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  Speaker 2: It's it's a really big change. Let me let me
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: take it take a step back. I think though, it's
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: a change that we couldn't have gotten to if it
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: weren't for COVID and the changes that came as a
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: result of COVID, where we saw places being able to
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: expand their footprints onto sidewalks, which again was a huge
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: change for the province, being able to deliver alcohol. Huge change.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I remember during COVID order ordering Margarita's from Acapoco to
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Light one night, and it was a one time thing
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: because it cost a little bit too much for me
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  Speaker 2: to do a second time. But it was really interesting
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: that it happened. I got a big container, it was
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: like a soup container filled with the margarita mix, and
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  Speaker 2: then I got a small bottle of tequila with it,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: and some salt and a takeout container and a lemon.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: It did the trick. It did what it was supposed
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: to do. All this to say, expanding into comedience stores,
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  Speaker 2: that's like the holy grail of alcohol expansion in the province.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: And I didn't ever think that this day would honestly come.
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  Speaker 2: We are so very just, We're we're old tiny in Ontario.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised it's still not black and white here quite
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: frankly sometimes, but like the Wizard of Oz, we are
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: going full technicolor with this expansion into corner stores. And
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I don't think this guy's gonna fall. I've heard from
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of people, and I've got in the studio
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: right now joining me. Windsor to come see Member of
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Provincial Parliament Andrew Dowie Andrew, how are you.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: On too bad? John? Thank you for having me today.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining you know, so I was. I've been
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: following a lot on social media and you guys have
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: a lot of opposition, but you've got a lot of support.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Let's be quite honest too. The polls show that you are,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: you know, far ahead still in terms of public opinion.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: But there are a loud minority of people on social
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  Speaker 2: media that chatter and buzz and yell and scream and
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: they're really upset by this, and they say that this
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: is going to overwhelm our healthcare system. It's going to
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: cause the sky to fun. You're gonna have fourteen year
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: old kids walking into corner stores and walking out with
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: six packs. And they said, you shouldn't be able to
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: buy alcohol, this one that I love. Shouldn't be able
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  Speaker 2: to buy alcohol when you're going to buy eggs and milk,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: because you're going to choose to buy the beer instead
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: of buying the eggs and milk. I was at the
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: grocery store the other day and as I was walking out,
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  Speaker 2: I had to go through the dog run that they
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: set up now at the z Aarr's where they've got
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  Speaker 2: the big plexiglass on one side and the wall on
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  Speaker 2: the other. And I got to the end of it,
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  Speaker 2: and there's really nice woman and she offered me a
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: sample of red wine, and then I said, could I
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: have a sample of white wine too? And she went out, Okay,
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  Speaker 2: So there we go. I had both varieties. I was
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: even able to buy a bottle andrew while moms and
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: dads were walking by with eggs and milk. I don't
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  Speaker 2: think the sky's gonna fall from this expansion, quite frankly,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I want to get your take on it. Obviously your supportive.
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  Speaker 2: You're part of this government. So when you hear these
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: types of I don't know. I don't want to call
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: it fear mongering, because I think that these people are
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: coming from a very good place. But when you hear
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: this type of response, what are your thoughts, what's your reaction.
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  Speaker 3: My initial thoughts or why were these arguments stared articulate?
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  Speaker 3: Back in twenty fifteen, when grocery stores were given the
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: opportunity to sell their fifty eight stores.
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  Speaker 2: Initially, Oh, that's right, you can also buy most of
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: these products already in a grocery correct.
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  Speaker 3: The last the previous government and a Premium Win authorized
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  Speaker 3: fifty eight sites initially and reached four hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 3: in total, predominantly with the big corporate chains metros Sobey's
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  Speaker 3: Labblaws which includes Zerr's and Real Cane Superstore. In fact,
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: Real Cane Superstorm Windsor was one of the was part
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: of that first wave, but that the big business was
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: able to access the alcohol market under the liberal government
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  Speaker 3: of Kathleen Winn and this change is now leveling the
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  Speaker 3: playing field for the small business owner, the convenience store owner.
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  Speaker 3: So one week from today, actually no, it's September fifth,
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  Speaker 3: September fifth, we are going to see in our local
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  Speaker 3: convenience stores, our family run stores. Yes, there will be
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  Speaker 3: some change, but that the network is very fragmented. You're
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: going to see access to local craft brewery products, craft beers, wines,
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  Speaker 3: ready to drink spirits in your local convenience store. And
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  Speaker 3: it is you know, it's an opportunity to takeet said
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: level the playing field, and let's be frank, there's an
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: economic component to it too. The Convenience Industry Council of
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Canada projects seven thousand to seventy five hundred new jobs
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  Speaker 3: created in Ontario as a result of this policy change
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  Speaker 3: and one hundred and fifty five million dollars in capital
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  Speaker 3: investments to convenience stores to accommodate. So that means, even
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  Speaker 3: if your local convenience store isn't necessarily up to the
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  Speaker 3: lighting standard and or the organization standard that some of
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: the newer stores are, they're going to invest to make
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: that they give the right experience. We also see from
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  Speaker 3: that study up to two hundred thirteen million dollars in
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  Speaker 3: new annual tax revenues and sixty nine percent of those
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: will go to the province. And the beer industry has
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  Speaker 3: been challenged significantly during the COVID pandemic. We've had some mergers,
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  Speaker 3: we've had some closures because people are not drinking as much,
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  Speaker 3: and limiting access to craft breweries, especially our local ones.
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  Speaker 3: You'll think of Frank, think of chapter two. Think of
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: just distilleries like Wolfhead. If our local products don't have
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  Speaker 3: access to the shelves, how do they sell their product
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  Speaker 3: and employ people locally. So this change, even though the
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  Speaker 3: spirits like Wolfhead will not be in convenience stores, it's
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  Speaker 3: important to recognize that our local businesses need opportunities to
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: sell their product, and so it's projecting from the Canadine
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Center for Economic Analysis that the craft beer industry alone
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  Speaker 3: will grow by forty percent, resulting one thousand new jobs,
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  Speaker 3: three hundred and eighty million dollars in cattle investments by
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  Speaker 3: the crap breweries, and two point three five billion in
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  Speaker 3: new economic activity. I can attest to that just looking
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: at my own group of friends. Every year we have
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: a kind of a pilgrimage to somewhere Ontario and what
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  Speaker 3: are some of the stops? All the local craft breweries,
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  Speaker 3: because there's a kind of a gamification of there's nap
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: you know'd rate this beer or whatever. But you know,
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  Speaker 3: it's a tourism driver too. Just like wind our wineries
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  Speaker 3: in Essex County, people will come and do come to
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: experience our wineries, and the same exists with the craft
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  Speaker 3: beer industry. So allowing Ontarians to access local products is
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  Speaker 3: an economic driver and I couldn't be happier to see it.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I'm glad that you brought up that the
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  Speaker 2: initial expansion did come underneath the prior government. Again, Kathleen,
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  Speaker 2: when noted liberal last time I checked, not a progressive
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  Speaker 2: conservative by any measure, was where this whole thing started.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Out and you guys ran of course on expanding it further,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: and here we are. We've seen that grocery stores aren't
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: really signing up to take part in this program. They
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: have cited that changes to the recycling which we'll be
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: talking about later on the show, quite frankly, make it
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: a bit too onerous for them because they don't already
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: have the floor space they'd have to deal with setting
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: up a whole recycling depot. But conence stores, we've seen
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  Speaker 2: a huge interest in uptick in applications for it. Virtually
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  Speaker 2: every convenience store that I drive by is indicating that
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  Speaker 2: they're going to be rolling this out again in just
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  Speaker 2: a number of days, eight days from now. You know,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: you talk about the economic impact, and of course that's
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: really important. People are concerned that, and maybe you can
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: just from your own voice, I've tried to explain it
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  Speaker 2: from my perspective. People are very concerned that this is
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  Speaker 2: going to take dollars out of our healthcare sector and
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  Speaker 2: put it in the hand of convenience store operators. And
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  Speaker 2: I'd love to get your response to that.
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  Speaker 3: If that were the case, then we would not see
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  Speaker 3: the growth and revenue at the LCBO that we've had
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  Speaker 3: with agency stores. So we have seen agency stores in
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  Speaker 3: rural areas where the LCBO has not had a presence,
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  Speaker 3: the communities are too small, and we have seen continuous
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  Speaker 3: increases in LCBO revenues as a result of the expansion
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  Speaker 3: of availability through the agency store program. So it's demonstrated
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: that's not the case. We grow revenues when people are
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: able to buy product. It's the free market effectively, where
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  Speaker 3: if you offer supply at a convenient location, people will
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  Speaker 3: go and buy. If you are forcing people to drive
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  Speaker 3: for hours to access a product or less likely to
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  Speaker 3: buy it, I suppose one could make an argument that
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: we shouldn't be selling alcohol, but that would put us
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  Speaker 3: offside with the entire world. I just got back from
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: two weeks in Europe and part of our art our
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: trip doesn't matter what country. There are a lot of
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  Speaker 3: the similar grocery chains, whether it be Aaldi or or
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  Speaker 3: a Carful or PAM or con Conad was one. They
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  Speaker 3: have convenience store arms like kind of a mini grocery stores,
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  Speaker 3: but they're mainly convenience stores.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: They have a selection of beer and wine and they
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  Speaker 3: have they were phenomenal stores, well lit, clean, you did
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: not see any sort of a criminal element. I've heard
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: on the inner waves people have said, hey, think about
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: that party store in Detroit with bars in the windows
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: and the grimy parking lot, et cetera. Well, okay, take
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: take the United States out of the equation. Think of Europe,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: think of Asia, think of Australia. These issues are not happening,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: and they're also not happening in other Knaine provinces that
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: have a product in their in their local stores.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Are We're being in the Jersey Islands and stopping off
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: at a convenience store on one of the highways, not
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: that they have many highways there islands and whatnot, but yeah,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: they sold beer in the convenience store on the highway,
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  Speaker 2: and I went, this is a little bit different. But
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: you know what, there wasn't people sitting around slamming beers
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: in the parking lot, or standing around the parking lot
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  Speaker 2: slamming beers. It wasn't happening. We gotta take a quick
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: break right now, but we're going to keep this conversation
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: going with MPP Andrew Dowie after this break. I'm John
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Lydkey here on AM eight hundred. Don't go anywhere Hey,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: we're back John Lecky here on AM eight hundred CKLW.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Glad to be joined in studio by our illustrious member
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: of Provincial Parliament for Windsor to come see. Andrew Dowie
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: joins me. We're having a conversation about the expansion of
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: alcohol into convenience stores, which is taking place officially next
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: week September the fifth. You'll be able to go and
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  Speaker 2: buy a six pack and crack a cold beer open
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  Speaker 2: after walking around the corner and getting back to your place.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: If that's something that you choose to do, and if
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: you don't want to do it, you don't have to.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: The government is not forcing you to take part in
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: this expansion whatsoever. But Andrew, there's something that I wanted
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: to talk to you about, and we're going to be
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: open up the phone lines and the texting lines for
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: questions for you from the audience from nine thirty to
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: nine forty five. So keep that in mind, folks. But
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: I've come across a sentiment on social media and in
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: real life that I don't know. It's a little bit
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: concerning and hyperbolic. There have been a series of articles
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: that have been written about the government's decision to change
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: the policies and regulations surrounding consumption and treatment sites. And
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: I saw one article that said doug Ford is trying
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: to kill Ontarians or something to that effect. This policy
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: will result definitely in dead Ontarians, and doug Ford knows this.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: I'm hearing very similar sentiment when it comes to this
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: alcohol expansion, both of which I believe to be hyperbolic,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: not grounded in facts. When it comes to alcohol expansion,
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: I think you could potentially make the charged with CTS
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: that there could be unintended effects. But that's not the
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: conversation I want to have. I want to have a
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: conversation about civility in politics and where things stand. Because
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I disagree with you on a lot of policies. I
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: disagree with the government, with the premiere, but I really
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: don't think that you guys are trying to kill people
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: like full stop. I think that you're trying to improve
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: people's lives, and we have disagreements about how the best
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: ways to go about doing that are. And we live
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: in a pluralistic democracy where if I don't like you
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: enough that I can go rally enough people around me
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: to go and vote for someone else and kick you
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: out of office. That's the system that we have in place.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: But I really don't think that you are evil, bad
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: people in back room smoking big cigars coming up with
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: ways to destroy the constituency class for the benefit of
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: corporate overlords, which is sort of what it seems like
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: is being spun by some people in this province. What
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: do you think about where we stand.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: I find it surprising that I'd say that this belief
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: exists that our own families don't have addiction problems, that
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: we don't have family members from crisis. The government caucus
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: is one hundred or seventy people right now, we have
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: one hundred and twenty four MPPs. I'm aware of some members,
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: maybe not all in our caucus, but some have member
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: family members in jail. Some have definitely lost loved ones
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: to two addictions. And so I find it. You know what,
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: I think there's we used to call it when the
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: call it Stephen Harper was in office. It was the
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Harper derangements syndrome where it doesn't matter what someone would do,
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: and you know, I'd say maybe even George Boys or
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: some of the controversial political leaders of the day would
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: have this or it doesn't matter what they did, it
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: was just they were seen to be bad people because
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: of their politics. I see that here too. I don't
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: think it's any secret that Premium Ford has a family
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: that has has had a curse of addictions for for
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: many years. And I think when you live with people
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: suffering fromictions and want to help them, and you run
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: out of ways to help them, you want to do
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: your utmost to find what the path forward is to
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: get your family member back. So I can certainly say,
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: based on what I've seen with my own two eyes
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: and heard from the government caucus members, is a genuine
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: desire to help those in distress. But there's a difference
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: of opinion on the role of abstinence from addictive products
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: and and and access to recovery. There there's a there's
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: a I call it a very very large gap. Some
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: are saying, you know, emphasis on recovery isn't for everybody,
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: therefore you should diminish it because you need to save
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: those that aren't there yet first. And I don't know
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: how to swear that circle. We need to make the
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: investments needed to help you get back on their feet.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: And if we're going to concentrate on helping people. It
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: should be on helping people, and that's getting them to
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: a better place and not keeping them where they're at.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Can you comment briefly on the dichotomy between I think
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: it's mostly the same people here, those who are advocating
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: for safer supply providing free opioid drugs and smaller amounts
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: for people who are suffering from addiction issues, providing free
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: safer supply to people, but on the flip side being
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: opposed to this alcohol expansion. It just it seems to
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: me that if you are for giving away free opioids
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: to people, expanding alcohol should be like a no brainer.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: That's so far in the rearview mirror. But yet is
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: this seems to be the hill that everyone is willing
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: to die on. Yeah, not everyone, but some of these folks.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: I appreciate you making that observation. I also see notice
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: that it seems that just comes back to the disagreement
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: on a political level, means that there's an inconsistency in
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: the in the approach, And I would say, look, I
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: think everyone who seeks elected office doesn't matter what party
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: they are, and I've always believed this. Uh, They're they're
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: looking to do the right thing. And yeah, they may
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: get frustrated that, you may get angry with those that
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: are in different different corners, but but fundamentally, people seek
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: elected office to do the right thing. We just may
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: disagree on what the right thing is. And so for
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: those those critics who yeah, they say we and you know,
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: even all the we've seen it from some in the
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: healthcare community to where yeah, we think in order to
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: reduce the toxicity of the drugs, we need to provide
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: safer supply. I think this is where they're coming from.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: They it's it's great on theoretical basis, but we have
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: examples that are already demonstrated in peter Borne, Ottawa, where
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: there's trading happening. The safe supply is being traded for
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: something more potent, something laced. It's just happening on the
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: street after the receipt of the safe supply, and and
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: and so it's what do you do with that. It's
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: it's on a theoretical basis potentially, but someone is always
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: looking for the supply that they had before, uh, and
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: they're going to get it if they want it. So
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: is it really helping at the end of the day.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Well, if if it were to be sticking around, which
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: it's not. I would like to see supervised consumption one
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: the way that you know methadona's done or they you
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: take it in front of somebody, and then second to that, uh,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: some kind of a like a time duration period of
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: eligibility for safer supply. Just giving people drugs free indefinitely doesn't.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: It's no pathway towards anything, just a pathway towards continued
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: drug uses, how I see it. But that wasn't the conversation.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: We were talking about alcohol expansion. But hey, maybe we're
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: gonna go there right now because we're gonna open up
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: the phone lines and if you've got a question for
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: our Member of provincial Parliament for Windsord to come see
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Andrew Dowie. Now is the time for you to call
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: in or text in five one nine seven nine to
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: two CKLW is the number. That's five one nine seven
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: nine two two five five nine. We're gonna break right now.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: We got the nine thirty information update, but when we
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: get back, we're gonna get to all of your comments
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: and questions. John Letdkey here on AM eight hundred KLW.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: We're back after this.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Thumb whollow.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Stopped.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Hey, we're back here with you.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Here am eight hundred kl W. Hope you're all doing well.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Nine thirty three. We're going to keep our conversation going
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: with Member of Provincial Parliament for Windsor to come see
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Andrew Dowie. If you've got a question for him, you
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: can call in or text us at five one, nine seven,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: nine to two KLW. We're talking alcohol expansion right now,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: but we got fifteen minutes of his time to talk
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: about whatever it is that you want. Let's first ask
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: we got a call comment here Andrew. Was it really
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: necessary for the government to shell out two hundred and
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: fifty million dollars to break the contract with the beer store.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Just for clarious two hundred and twenty five million dollars?
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: And it's not that that's an upset limit. Do we
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: The question is do we want the beer store in
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: business rout of businesiness? Obviously the marketplace has changed as
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: a result of this policy, and so they have a
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: legitimate complaint that the government is putting them out of business.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: But they are an incredible recycler. They are able to
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: recapture eighty percent of the product they sell in terms
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: of return. Glass or sorry. In terms of the overall
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: and glass is higher, I think it's around I believe
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: it's around eighty eight percent. It's amazing what kind of
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: recycling they have. So if we want that recycling program
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: shut down and have all that cost downloaded to the
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: municipalities or you know, whoever else, then perhaps the agreement
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: is not a good idea. But think of also the
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: infrastructures just apply are restaurants and like they're going beer
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: store is going to go to a wholesaler. But they
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: need to they need to get to a sustainable business model.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: They need to invest money, and the government changed the
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: rules on them. The right thing to do is to
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: work with them to get to an agreement so they
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: can evolve into a service that provides a public good
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: and a and a public publicly desired model. So providing
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: supply to restaurants, providing supply to the convenience stores and
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: grocery stores, and providing that recycling service all has value.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: And so it is something that it's it's a reimbursement
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: of audited and acceptable capital costs. It's not necessarily going
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: to reach that two hundred and twenty five million dollar figure.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Well, look at that you just save taxpayers twenty five
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: million dollars. It wasn't two hundred and fifty, it's two
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: twenty five on the upside, you know, so we might
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: be looking towards a future then where it's not the
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: beer store, it's the beer distribution and recycling store.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's effectively a new part of that business.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: And the beer store will monitor their existing their existing
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: program in terms of having stores in communities, you know,
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: as there is there going to be the same demand, Well,
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: we'll have to see if people find other places to buy.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: Then it's possible beer store will will not operate as
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: many stores as they have in the past, but they
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: will continue to be the supplier together with the LCBO
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: for the products that they supply, so they will continue
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: to stay in business and just you know, they'll be
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: bulking up on their warehousing, bulking up their distribution.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: It's a real unique situation that we've had here in
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: terms of the monopolization that the beer store has been
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: able to control for as long as it has being
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: the seller of it, the distributor of it, the seller
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: to store, to bars and restaurants, but also to the public,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: the distribution and then also the recycling. If you look
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: to Michigan, they've got a fully broken up system where
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: it's actually, I believe illegal for if you are a
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: distributor to be involved in the selling or to be
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: involved in the recycling as well. They want to keep
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: it as separate as possible for that competition. If you've
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: got a question for our MPP for windsord to, I'm
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: c Andrew Dowie. Call her text five one nine seven
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: nine to two CKLW and you can get that question
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: to him right now. Here is one will. All employees
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: at corner stores now need to be smart served.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: It's the same rules that apply for existing sellers. So
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: it's the same rules as the grocery stores, same rules
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: as for restaurants.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: So the answer yes, yes, yeah, because you need to
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: be able to know if you're selling to someone who's drunk.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: A license to sell is a license to sell.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: When I was a valet at Caesar's, I had to
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: get my smart serf to be able to refuse to
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: provide keys to someone when they came to pick up
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: their car. Fortunately that never happened because I did not
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: want to be the one to tell someone who was
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: drunk no, you don't get your car back right now.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: So that didn't happen to me. So yes, the answer
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: is yes, here's one shifting gears. Why can't we get
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: at least one more emergency room doctor? Average time for
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: a heart attack is ten to fourteen hours. This feels insane.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: This must be done.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: You know what, if anyway that I can help went
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: to Regional Hospital, I am there for them, and so
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: if we are short on that front, that's it's up
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: to really meet to partner with them. And they we
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: have a tremendous, tremendous administration wins Regional Hospital, I have
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: to say, Karen Riddell, phenomenal CEO. Uh and we are
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: I am working with them on a number of files
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: to get to get old matters cleaned up. But landing
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: new doctors is going to take some time. We have
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: many retiring. We have some that are just saying, you
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: know what I had, I need better work life balance,
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: I spend more time with my family. And so that's
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: why the government has opened up two new medical schools,
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: or it's in the process of opening up one in Brampton,
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: one Vaughan, and the one in Vaughan is going to
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: be focused on family doctors, not necessarily er. But the
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: last government cut medical school spaces and that was not
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: a decision that had a vision to the future. So
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: need to rebuild. But hey, to go into med school
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: takes a long long time. It hits between the actual
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: time and classroom and your practicals. So we need to
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: address the fundamentals. The government is by opening up to
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: new med schools and we will rebuild the workforce, which
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: and that should have been done years ago.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you for that answer. Here's one, Andrew, Where the
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: hell is the one dollar beers? Where's the bucket beers?
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: Well, they didn't exist initially in the twenty eighteen to
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: twenty nineteen calendar year. I suspect inflation may have done
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: away with that, but they did exist briefly in the
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: province Ontario.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, here is another one. When will the child welfare
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: system be helped? Our local children's aid society is struggling,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: has a huge deficit. We need government backing.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: Yep. So I've happy to meet with Derek Rullard a
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: couple months ago, and I'm always always happy to hear
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: their ideas for reforming the system. So we sat down
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: and learned a lot about the system, and it's important
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: that we get to right and do our best for
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: our kids. So really, I don't think there's a magic bullet.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: If we could figure this out, we would have figured
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: this out. It's going to take some intensive work to
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: understand the gaps in the system and why they exist.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: And I believe the government does recognize that, especially for
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: those that are suffering from special needs, that we just
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: don't have the services in place in many communities, including
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: our own. So so I know the mister pars is
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: working on that and working to figure that out to
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: help as many kids as possible.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know that they're looking for fosters at
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: all times, right foster parents. Hey, Okay, you can ask
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: your question to MPP Andrew Dowie at five one nine,
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: seven nine to two CKLW. We've got about five minutes
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: left for this. Hey, Andrew, do you work closely with
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: MP Eric Kuzmeritrick when it comes to local issues? Uh?
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: You know what, sometimes it comes up that you know,
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: there's an area of mutual interest and I think of
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: the weirdest things like firearms issues, or sometimes there's immigration
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: issues where you know, Ontario nominates certain people, uh, for
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: for positions, and and you know our stream might be
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: might be better than the federal stream, so they're there
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: are options for collaboration.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: We do.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: We do a lot on the constituency side. On the
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: policy side, it's uh, it's it's a bit less. I mean, obviously,
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: you know, anyone reads X or social media, we'll see, uh.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: Sometimes there's some some partisan jousting, but ultimately I'll get
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: back to my comment earlier. I think everyone who seeks
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: selected office is trying to do the right thing for
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: the people their community. And I certainly I'm always happy
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: when I get to work with our federal members, not
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: not just Erica's Mrchik, but Brian Massey and Chris Lewis. Uh,
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: They're just honestly, I like, I like everyone of them,
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: and I'm happy when we do have the opportune to
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: work together.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Who do you least like?
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: Who I least like? I at least like myself? Right,
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: how diplomatic event, But there's always room for improvement. I
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: think we all, we all can pick up the phone
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: and and be the better person once in a while.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Sometimes things can get a bit pointed. But for those
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: who do return the phone call. You can tell that
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: they're they're decent people.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Well, you talk about partisans jousting. I should be clear.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: The question was I made it diplomatic. The question was
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: does Andrew work closely with photo op eric on local issues?
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Is how this person decided to phrase it there and
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: then they decided to let me know I'm so political
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: because of how I tried to cover that up for them.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: I just you know, like maybe they're listening, right, that's all.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: That's all.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: That's all it is. Mister Dowie, can you research for
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: us why site hospitals were closed years ago and now
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: all of those people are living on the streets without
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: support for people who need mental supports.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: I have a vague recollection of that. I remember that
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: happened under the Liberal government, and you know, Saint Thomas
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: the hospital building is still there. But but yeah, it's
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: a belief that institutionalizing is not the appropriate model of care,
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: and then having local kind of groups home settings is
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: a better a model of care. But we have to
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: actually have those group homes built, and the facilities and
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: the building of the infrastructure hasn't kept up with demand
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: for the service. So that's the best answer I can
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: give on that one and we do. We I think
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: we all collect we need to do better. But it's
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Holly spokes being government takes a long time to get
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: anything done. And I think that's that's the biggest barrier too.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: All every now and then when I like it's easy
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: to you know, I sit and I go, oh, I
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: come up with a policy prescription. This could fix the issue.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: You give me the money and it can get done.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: But then, you know, I have a conversation with someone
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: like you and we were just talking about opening up
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: medical schools, and then you just you start to think
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: about how long it actually takes. So we get the
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: idea to open a medical school, great idea, somehow, you
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: get the money, allocate a great idea. Then it somehow
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: gets approved, and then you go to build it and
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: four years later, five years later of the building, and
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: then it's gonna take three years to put someone through
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: the program to actually get a degree. We're eight years
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: out and the person texted in and saying, why are
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: we gonna get another doctor today? Yeah?
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Well, I'll use a great example of one of my
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: first announcements, very proud to make. It was an increase
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: of thirty four percent or homelessness funding for the city
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: Windsor in the County of Essex. So that was just
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: over four million dollars every single year added to the plot.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: Has that four million dollars been seen as delivering results
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: so far? That's how hard these issues are. That you
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: can throw a lot of money in, but sometimes there's
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: a structural problem with how the services are delivered that
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: we haven't found yet as to what the cure to
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: that is, and so it takes time and it takes
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: understanding to to really make sure that you're going to