Recent reports that Ontario Costco stores, among other retailers, would now be selling beer (and wine) were met with the approval of many Leasiders. To mark the occasion, some folks even posted on Facebook photos of beer cases for sale at the Thorncliffe Park Costco.
How times have changed. Eighty years ago, a similar event would have triggered howls of protest from angry Leaside residents. In fact, it did! Here’s the story of those dry times:
Phase 1
In May 1941, people learned that the Loblaws Groceteria at 529 Bayview Ave. was moving to a new location down the street. It was also rumoured that the LCBO planned to open a beer “warehouse” (Brewers Retail) at the former Loblaws site. Within days, a delegation of several hundred residents appeared before the Leaside town council and convinced it to pass a resolution opposing the LCBO’s plan.
Over the next few weeks, the anti-beer faction took further action. They formed a citizens’ committee led by local lawyer I.E. Houser of 145 Bessborough Dr. and launched a petition condemning the planned warehouse; it was signed by 70 per cent of the town’s voters – nearly 2,000 residents. On June 3, a new delegation presented the petition to St. Clair Gordon, the LCBO Commissioner, who politely told them that the warehouse was going forward regardless.
This provoked a defiant response from Houser, who charged that the LCBO was using Leaside as an outlet for selling beer to residents of nearby North Toronto – a “dry” area. Houser vowed to continue the fight “until the proposal is defeated” [Globe & Mail, June 6, 1941]. According to the Toronto Star [June 6, 1941], he was supported by many others – including the Leaside school board; Leaside United church pastor Harry A. Mellow, who announced: “we are not going to take this lying down”; and the Owen Sound Daily Sun Times, which stated in an editorial that the LCBO’s action “strongly resembles Hitlerism.”
Phase 2
By October, the situation had deteriorated for the anti-beer proponents. The LCBO had gone forward with its plans, and the beer warehouse was now open for business at 591 Bayview Ave.
Houser and his committee responded by requesting at the Oct. 7 Leaside Council meeting that Council authorize a plebiscite on whether the warehouse should keep operating. While sympathetic to their position, Mayor Talbot denied the request on the grounds that the cost of a plebiscite – about $1,200 – would be too much for the town to bear.
Houser was livid. “Many outsiders come clogging our streets with traffic to buy beer,” he protested, and “they … are even drinking it on our streets and in their cars.” He demanded that councillors resign if they were reluctant to support the will of the people. Talbot refused.
With few options left, Houser took his case to Ontario Attorney General W. B. Common. But Common declined to give an official ruling on the matter and told him instead to go back to the LCBO and see what they had to say – a classic case of being given the “run-around.” To make matters worse, Houser learned that even if he did get permission for a plebiscite, the results might not be valid since Ontario law only allowed for votes on liquor stores, not beer stores [Globe & Mail, Oct. 23, 1941].
One month later, on Nov. 26, Houser admitted defeat and announced that the anti-beer committee was being disbanded: “A meeting will likely be held next week,” he said, “to wind up the affairs of the committee and the whole thing will die a natural death” [Globe and Mail, Nov. 27, 1941].
The LCBO had won.
Postscript
The beer store at 591 Bayview continued to operate until 1960, after which it was replaced by a TD Bank for several decades and is now the site of Cumbrae’s. (Note: after 1960, all the numbers on Bayview were changed by 1,000 – so 591 became 1591, and so on.)
I.E. Houser remained a Leaside resident for another 18 years but had moved to North York by 1959. He died in 2001 at the age of 90 after a long and successful career as a lawyer.
Leasiders meanwhile, in addition to going to Costco, can now buy beer and other alcoholic libations at multiple locations in their community – such as the Beer Store on Laird, three LCBOs, plus numerous bars, restaurants and grocery stores, including Loblaws!
The moral of this story? Don’t fight the LCBO.
