
Beer store locations open on the Civic Holiday, here's where
Whether you're heading to the cottage, hosting friends, or relaxing at home and want keep your cooler stocked with cold drinks, here are a few things you should know.
'The Beer Store is open at select locations across Ontario so you can be ready for the long weekend,' said Ozzie Ahmed, VP retail TBS. 'We know customers appreciate the convenience of The Beer Store – cold beer and an efficient empty alcohol container return system that gets people their money back.'
The Beer Store wants you to remember to return your empty alcohol containers to get a deposit back.
On Mon., August 5, these Beer Store locations across the region will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.:
Alliston – 161 Yonge Street.
Barrie -30 Anne Street, south - 531 Bayfield Street.- 640 Yonge Street.
Collingwood – 415 First Street.
Huntsville – 18 Hanes Road. (Drive-Thru Only)
Orangeville – 270 Broadway Street.
Orillia – 275 Atherly Road.
Owen Sound – 1155 First Avenue, east.
Wasaga Beach – 100 Mosely Street.
Newmarket – 1100 Davis Drive.
Midland – 9350 Hwy. #93
For a full list of locations across the province and holiday hours, click here.

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National Observer
11 hours ago
- National Observer
Ford government's proposed water rules will suck Ontario dry, critics say
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Theresa McClenaghan, executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, said large water-users are usually required to provide financial assurances in case they shut down and restoration is needed. With a permit transfer, it's unclear if those protections would still apply. McClenaghan said under the proposed changes, local communities wouldn't know the new company's environmental record — and if it had past violations, the public wouldn't be able to raise any concerns. 'Any reputable water-taker would want the confidence of the surrounding community and not be causing these impacts,' McClenaghan told Canada's National Observer. People should have the right to know whether a new operator has the technical skills and proper equipment to manage water-taking safely and avoid harming nearby properties or ecosystems, she added. Under current rules, any permit transfer requires a new application, public review, environmental assessment and First Nations consultation. The proposed changes would remove all of these steps. The province says the move is meant to 'streamline' the permitting process and reduce administrative delays. But McCenaghan says safety is more important than speed when issuing permits. Activities such as drilling for water, pumping from aquifers, or taking water from surface sources can have serious consequences for ecosystems and the people who depend on them. Water-taking in Ontario has previously sparked strong public backlash, especially around bottled water. A permit renewal for Nestlé's former bottling plant near Guelph drew thousands of public comments. Polling suggests that over 68 per cent of Ontarians — across all political affiliations — supported phasing out water bottling permits entirely. Jana Levison, an associate professor of water resources engineering at the University of Guelph, said Ontario's water systems are already under significant stress from climate change, land use changes, and population growth. 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Global News
a day ago
- Global News
Ford government started studying Hwy. 401 tunnel after private-sector bids: docs
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The Ford government was looking for ideas that relate to Ontario's 'core types of infrastructure, including new transit infrastructure, health care facilities, highways, law enforcement facilities and housing.' Story continues below advertisement While it's unclear exactly how many proposals have been submitted to the government through the portal, the documents obtained by Global News show that, between 2019 and 2021, three separate private highway plans were sent to the government. One was for two 22-kilometre tolled tunnels under Highway 401, submitted by the construction firm Aecon in 2019. As Global News previously reported, the Aecon idea for a privately-operated tunnel solution to gridlock had also been pitched to the City of Toronto and to the previous Ontario Liberal government. Another proposal came, also in 2019, from Cintra for a ''U-Ring' of managed lanes' on Highway 427, Highway 401, the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway. 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Story continues below advertisement While the work was paused in 2021 — as the province began focusing on a GTA-wide transportation strategy — it was restarted in the summer of 2024, when two ministers were told about the plan. 'The original reason this briefing came about was because Minister Sarkaria and Minister Surma caught wind of the Tunnelling USP from a few years ago and requested a briefing,' one email sent between civil servants said. 'I believe that was in early July.' The vast majority of the messages were sent between civil servants and political staff through the summer of 2024 as they prepared to brief Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma and Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria on what work had been done so far. The emails suggest work already completed on the tunnel included: a price estimate, technical studies and assessments of the market to build it. 'I see from previous materials that project planning was paused in late 2021, pending the release of the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) Transportation Plan. Can you please confirm whether this work has resumed? And if not, why has it not resumed?' an email sent from a political staffer to a civil servant last summer asks. The email also requested, 'information on: any geotechnical work has been done already and what work will be required should tunnelling be pursued; the timelines for planning and design and estimated timelines for overall project; and finally, estimated costs of planning and design, and estimated costs Total Project Costs.' Another message from a civil servant highlighted the similarities between the plan Ford announced in the summer of 2024 and the work completed years earlier. Story continues below advertisement 'This is pretty much where the USP evaluation ended up,' one frustrated email read after Ford held a news conference to announce his plan. 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Matti Siemiatycki, director of the infrastructure institute at the University of Toronto, said the tunnel was a 'dream' and not a practical plan. Story continues below advertisement Despite opposing the plan and saying it 'won't solve the problem' of congestion on Highway 401, he said the government should keep studying it after winning an election with it in their platform. 'Actually, I support them continuing to study it in part because the premier raised it in advance of the election — he won the election, so this is something that has now been through the political system,' Siemiatycki said. 'It should be studied technically and all the documents should then be released. And the public can see and then we make a decision on what to do.'


CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
As Beer Stores shut their doors, who will take your empties?
Social Sharing With more and more Beer Stores closing across Ontario, charities and non-profits that rely on bottle collection are hoping to cash in on your empties. The Beer Store currently processes about 1.6 billion empty alcohol containers per year. But it has closed dozens of locations across the province since the arrival of beer in convenience stores, and plans to shutter still more this September. At least five of the actual or planned closures are in Ottawa, including one in the Glebe, where Operation Come Home runs a bottle drive as part of its BottleWorks social enterprise. Executive director John Heckbert hasn't noticed any impact yet — but he's hoping more residents will call on BottleWorks to collect their empties. "We would be very happy to help people if they find that they're accumulating bottles or that they would like somebody to come pick them up," he said. "It's definitely bad news for the people that are affected by the closures," he added. "But it is a positive for our program in the sense that we can provide more employment opportunities and more activity for our youth." Operation Come Home provides housing, employment and eduction programs for homeless youth, who staff the BottleWorks program. They ride around in the truck and collect from practically anywhere in Ottawa, though suburban areas have higher minimums for collection. Residents can fill out a form on the BottleWorks website and schedule a collection date. They can get a tax receipt in return. "We are going to be adding two new trucks to the road in the coming year," Heckbert said. "We're going to expand the capacity of the program and this timing will help us make sure that the trucks are always full." Animal rescues also hopeful BottleWorks isn't the only group that will pick up empties. Fundraisers for animal rescues also collect bottles and cans to pay for food and vet bills. Darlene Charman of Empties for Paws Orleans said empties play a major role in their fundraising. She saw a major uptick in collections during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was tougher for people to get out for returns. She wonders whether the Beer Store closures might trigger a similar trend. "It could bring a little bit more of an influx of the empties to the animal rescues, because the people won't be bothered to drive further out," she said. Melody Lachance collects empties for several animal rescues through her fundraising group, Barrhaven & Area Empties. She too is hoping for a boost. "They may just contact us and say, 'Do you want my empties, because I'm not going to drive to wherever to cash them in,'" she said. Lachance is already looking to nearby Manotick, where a store is set to close later this month. But further closures could also be a hindrance, since both Lachance and Charman rely on the Beer Store for returns. Waste reduction advocate worried Duncan Bury of Waste Watch Ottawa agreed that charities can pick up some of the slack left as Beer Stores closed, but not enough to compensate for the overall decline of a collection system he already sees as severely lacking. Where other provinces like B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan collect about 80 per cent of their empties, Ontario brings in only about half. "That 50 per cent number will surely fall," Bury said. "The whole system, which is not very good to start with, is just going to get worse." Buty noted that most other provinces accept non-alcoholic containers and offer far more locations for residents to return their empties. Quebec has 1,200, while B.C. has 600. Currently, the Beer Store is required to keep at least 300 locations open as part of a contract with the provincial government. But that will end as of Jan. 1. Bury fears that could mean more closures and even fewer options for returns. "The options to recover those containers are frankly disappearing," said Bury. On that same date, the province will require grocery stores that sell alcohol to accept empties for collection. Bury said that could work. It's a major component of British Columbia's successful system. "If they can do it in British Columbia, there's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be able to do it in Ontario," he said. But he's concerned it won't happen. The province already requires about 70 grocery stores in areas without Beer Stores to accept empties. But a report in May found that few were actually complying. Bury said the province needs to be tough with the grocers, but it should also do more. He said Ontario should open stand-alone depots for bottle returns, like Quebec and British Columbia. Heckbert said BottleWorks could help businesses that sell alcohol by taking the empties off their hands. "I could imagine that for a grocery store, space and inventory will be an issue. It's the same thing that our bars and restaurants encounter," he said.