The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The manager of the Victoria Inn isn't enthusiastic about a proposed change to Manitoba's Liquor Control Act. Intergovernmental Affairs and Trade Minister Scott Smith last week introduced proposed changes to extend clearing time at bars from 30 minutes to one hour. Clearing time is the period in which bars stay open after stopping alcohol service. Smith said safety was one of the reasons for the proposed change, as "extending the clearing time to 60 minutes will . . . increase the availability of a safe ride home." But David Brooks of the Victoria Inn, which includes The Unwinder, said people who are at beverage rooms late at night are likely unfit to go behind the wheel and that extra half-hour won't change that. Brooks is not only doubtful the change would do little for safety, he also feels it would be "an added expense of doing business without any return." If the proposed change goes through, bars would stay open until 3 a.m. at the latest, not 2:30 a.m. as is currently the maximum. Brooks isn't alone in his feeling that an extra 30 minutes won't enhance safety. "If people haven't made a decision, a responsible decision, about how to get home from the bar prior to the closing time of the bar, then the likelihood of them making a good decision then is slim," Rod Sudbury of Mothers Against Drunk Driving told CBC.
