Amid a global pandemic, economic collapse and mass protest, Toronto has a new top concern: Your beer

Let it never be said that Toronto, under pressure, in a time of great tumult and strain, was ever anything less than 100 per cent pure Toronto . A pandemic is reshaping the world. The economy is in tatters. Protests over racism and police brutality have spread everywhere. But in Toronto, the real Toronto problems have come back to the fore.

In the middle of a heat wave, at a time when it is infinitely safer to be outdoors than in, the City of Toronto is worried about your beer. Over the weekend, the City sent out a message on its official Twitter account reminding residents that it is against the law to have a drink on the beach or in a park. Get caught with an open can or a Solo cup full of wine and you could get hit with a $300 fine. Since March 17, bylaw officers alone have handed out 46 citations for alcohol consumption or possession according to a city spokesperson. That doesn’t include any charges laid by the Toronto Police.



Leave the beer, wine and spirits at home if you’re planning a trip to a beach or park this weekend. You can receive a $300 ticket for consuming alcohol in public spaces. Learn more: https://t.co/mC9qhhnl1n pic.twitter.com/ZYFvQQFJ0X

— City of Toronto (@cityoftoronto) July 4, 2020

“For a minute, while enduring an unprecedented shutdown, we thought we could have nice things,” the journalist Sarah Boesveld wrote in response to the tweet. “Or, y’know, maybe just this one thing.” But, of course, Toronto isn’t really a place for nice things, or different things, or change. No matter what else is happening in the world, Toronto will keep on being Toronto. New ideas, simple ideas even, will get talked about and ignored. The same old will always endure.

There is a serious issue here. This isn’t just about having your gin and soda in High Park without worrying about the police. There are legitimate public health reasons why the city and the province should work together to let those rules slide. The evidence at this point is overwhelming that it is far safer to gather outdoors during the pandemic than it is inside. Pushing drinkers off the beaches could mean pushing them into living rooms and kitchen parties, where the risk of super-spreader situations could spike.

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“My initial reaction is, in terms of the issue that we’re dealing with right now, this seems like not the thing to prioritize,”  said Dr. Ashleigh Tuite, an infectious disease epidemiologist in Toronto. “People are going to drink and so I would rather they were doing it outside than indoors in a crowded space.”



For a minute, while enduring an unprecedented shutdown, we thought we could have nice things. Or, y’know, maybe just this one thing. 🙃 https://t.co/2RVfhKXrNR

— Sarah Boesveld (@sarahboesveld) July 5, 2020

The public health principle should be harm reduction. People are going to drink. After several months of lockdown, they’re going to see their friends. Those are both risky propositions. The question is, how to mitigate those risks?

“Part of enjoying the nice weather is sometimes hanging out in a park and having a picnic or having a drink,” said Tuite. “And I don’t think that cracking down on that right now, when we have so much disruption going on in our lives … is particularly helpful.”

For Tuite, this is an equity issue, too. It’s about who does and doesn’t have access to private outdoor spaces. “You may be lucky enough to have a nice backyard that you can sit in and enjoy a drink in and have some friends over and have enough space back there to maintain physical distance, but you may not,” she said. For those people, the ones without yards or cottages, the park is their social space. They should be allowed to enjoy it without worrying about the police.

The odd thing is, city public health officials, and even the mayor, seem to mostly agree. “We know that the risk of transmission is certainly lower within the context of outdoor settings relative to indoor settings,” Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said Monday. “ I think that we should be looking at what best we can do to mitigate risk and to create circumstances that allow for our population to be as successful as possible.”

Asked about the same issue Monday, Mayor John Tory said that, from what’s he’s seen, most people are acting responsibly, even when they aren’t strictly following the rules. “I think people are getting the message. And as usual, it’s a message that sort of says, let’s do things in moderation,” he said.

So, why not just trust the people of Toronto to have a beer in a park, in a responsible manner? Why not just say, we’re going to have some easing here, don’t go over the top, but if you want to have a beer, have a beer?

Tory didn’t rule it out. “You’ve heard me say many times before the pandemic, that I would be quite willing to look at reviewing some of our rules,” he said. “Let’s just take things one day at a time in the course of the pandemic.

In other words, it’s a good idea. Just don’t expect to see it happen anytime soon.

• Email: rwarnica@postmedia.com | Twitter: richardwarnica