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Here's to drinking on an empty stomach

HAYLEY MICK

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 11:22 AM EDT 26/03/08

Cheers, Nova Scotia Here's to drinking on an empty stomach ...Read the full article

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  1. Kan Tankerous from Tronna, Canada writes: It wasn't that long ago that, on a Sunday, the only place you could get a belt here in Ontario without paying for grub was at mass. Even then though, you had to choke down one of their embossed wafers to get a hair-of-the dog.
  2. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Fantastic !!!

    Now, thousands of University students in Halifax can choose to get hammered on Good Friday and Christmas day too...

    Ain't modern life grand ?
  3. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: A few years ago, we also had a referundum on whether to allow Sunday shopping...

    The majority of Nova Scotians were against Sunday shopping and voted NO...

    However, the government later caved to pressure from the Sobey's to allow stores to open on Sundays...

    How did money become the new religion ?
  4. Kan Tankerous from Tronna, Canada writes: I think money and religion have a strong bond that goes back a long long way.
  5. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Kan Tankerous from Tronna, Canada:

    I always thought that we lived in a democracy and if a plebiscite was held, the government was supposed to abide by the wishes of the majority...

    Foolish me!

    The bar owners will be happy about this one though --

    Just what Halifax, a city that is now in the top ten in crime statistics in Canada needs -- more alcohol and more alcoholics !!

    (end of sarcasm)
  6. Kan Tankerous from Tronna, Canada writes: I can't speak for Halifax since I don't live there, but I'd rather deal with the drunks than the pious any day. I despise 7 day a week shopping here in Ontario, but they could choose any of one of the 7 days to shut things down and I'd be happy. The particular day matters not.
  7. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Ken Tankerous from Tronna, Canada:

    I don't think that the people who were opposed to Sunday shopping were necessarily pious...

    Forget the religious element ...

    What ever happened to the idea of the 4 day work week in Canada?

    Now, some people are up to 7 days/week and having less and less time to spend with their families... More people in this province are now running to stand still because of the Sobey's overruling the results of that provincial plebiscite...

    I am sure it is likely the same everywhere in Canada...
  8. Hap Stokes from Port Alberni BC, Canada writes: Sometimes I am so goddamned proud to be a Bluenoser it hurts
  9. the dude abides from Austria writes: Liquor-control laws and the whole service of Alcohol in Canada are completely retarded. Can't we be a little more like Europe and less like ....well actually, Canada is one of the worst places to get alcohol considering the price, monopoly, overall regulations, secluded beer tents at outdoor events...well… can we ever change these ridiculous laws? Are they really necessary? The end result is definitely not fewer alcoholics and drunks.
  10. John McCaffery from Australia writes: Robert Miller from Halifax - People that have a life with a family are the types that want Sunday with everything closed - let's face it, how many people these days have a life? It is off to shopping on Sunday because both parents are working the rest of the time.
  11. Mark Mitchell from London, Canada writes: I may be out of touch w/ NB b/c I live here in Ontario, but I find it awfully hard to believe that Sobeys wields so much power... and if it does... Wow! "Too many sarcastic comments, not enough time"

    Kan Tankerous - I could not agree more :) Give me a guy I can't understand before some preacher telling me why I am going to hell anyday.
  12. John Underhay from Canada writes: It's quite simple really. The concept of Sunday shopping only applies to box stores. If you work in a restaurant, coffee shop, corner store, service stations, or any place like this, shift workers cover 24 hours, 7 days a week. For some reason, many people see employees at Walmart, Sobey's, Loblaws, Canadian Tire and others as different from the others. I have seen people in coffee shops on Sunday morning complaining about Sunday shopping. Drinking while ordering food fall under the same category. One has to ask why such laws are on the books anyway. Who is protected by these laws? Why are they necessary? Is drinking in bars on some days somehow better or worse than drinking on other days?
  13. S T from Canada writes: Were Nova Scotians so afraid or embarassed of being labeled 'dinosaurs', that they held their noses and accepted their government's decision to ignore the Sunday Shopping plebesite, which showed at least a slim majority was opposed to the idea? I bet you won't find Mr. or Mrs. Sobey stacking bananas on Sunday. Their own teenagers are probably getting in some valuable recreation or spending crucial time on their schoolwork and not searching for the UPC code on a toilet paper pack, before heading home with a Michelina's.
  14. God Free from Kingston, Canada writes: We should all be proud, just another example of how religion's influence is waining and how society is free to make its own choices, right or wrong. Now if we could just get rid of Harper and Day, sounds like two of the three stooges doesn't it;-)
  15. Mei-Xing Xu from Canada writes: i seen a man hold a sign near a place where alcohol is sold here, it said the drunk mind is a devils workshop. i have never took a drink of alcohol in my life, am i missing something.
  16. Jhon Przybytek from Reaboro, Canada writes: This is hilarious. Making something as bad as alcohol readily available while at the same time banning smoking. I say ban the nannies!!
  17. Robert Boyd from Windsor, Canada writes:
    Apart from Christianity, I don't think there are any religions that celebrate Good Friday.
    Of course, I'm not a professor of pratology.

    " Craig Heron, associate professor of history at York University says,
    there are many, many other religions that don't celebrate Good Friday."
  18. Michael Sharp from Victoria, Canada writes:

    Hey!
    There's hope.

    I want to hear more about this mythical West Toronto where "rowdy drunks" stormed the streets and yelled a lot.

    A place in Toronto with a hint of "not bland"?

    Exciting stuff.
  19. Michael Sharp from Victoria, Canada writes:

    Out here in Victoria, it's gotten so bad that if you want to choke back a spliff while enjoying your local bar, you have to go outside and stand in the parking lot.

    You guys think you got it bad?
  20. Fred Johnson from Halifax, Canada writes: It's about time that Nova Scotia has decided to join the '80's.

    Sunday shopping couldn't happen soon enough. If you don't want to shop, don't.

    I am forced to work weekends because people want to use the service my employer provides, usually after church.

    Next item to fall from laws dating back 80 years, the sale of beer and wine in grocery and corner stores......especially on Sunday!
  21. Kan Tankerous from Tronna, Canada writes: You' re right Michael Sharp. Here in the big smoke it's so bland. Everyone is the same. Whereas, in Victoria, drunken geezers are quite likely to trample your tulips and leave skid marks on your driveway with their IV trees.
  22. Paul Chapman from Laputa, Canada writes: Canada has the most ridiculous, outdated liquor laws. Every time I have a European friend or relative around, I'm embarrassed to have to explain it all to them. You have to get your alcohol from special, magic stores with bad selection and high prices. No, you can't bring beer to the beach.

    It's not as bad as it used to be though. Back in the day, liquor stores in Halifax were built like fortresses, with a cop sitting in a chair at the door. Buying anything was like going through Customs.
  23. Michael Sharp from Victoria, Canada writes:

    Kan Tankerous from Tronna!

    Funny!
    Don't spill your Coors Light.
  24. Mike Sumners from Toronto, Canada writes: Glad to see more ridiculous religious prohibitions biting the dust. Canada is becoming more and more secular and I'm very proud of that!
  25. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Mark Mitchell from London:

    I don't know if you are out of touch with NB...

    However, Halifax is in NS and yes, the Sobey's do control an awful lot around here...

    PS... Fred Johnson -- So why waste money on a plebiscite if the Provincial government is not going to act on the will of the majority anyways?
  26. Robert Miller from Canada writes: The last thing that many Nova Scotians need is easier and more frequent alcohol availability...

    Anyone ever check what our Provincial Government takes in on gambling activites (VLTs, lotteries) in NS ?

    And then the taxpayers have to pay for addiction services too...

    Complete lunacy !!!
  27. Paul Chapman from Laputa, Canada writes: " The last thing that many Nova Scotians need is easier and more frequent alcohol availability..."

    Well it's a good thing you're around to tell people what they need. Think about what would happen if people could make decisions for themselves!
  28. Joe Gopher from Canada writes: Robert Miller from Canada writes: The last thing that many Nova Scotians need is easier and more frequent alcohol availability...

    Anyone ever check what our Provincial Government takes in on gambling activites (VLTs, lotteries) in NS ?-----------------------------------------------
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    So you're saying that Nova Scotians aren't smart enough to make their own decisions? That they need the nanny state to make sure they have their little mittens with them when they go outside?
    Speak for yourself, sonny.
  29. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Joe Gopher -- Go have another drink!!

    People don't make these decisions -- the ones who sell them their addictions do...

    You guys have nothing!
  30. Three Cheers from Canada writes: Great victory for freedom, now we can get plastered any day of the week and don't even have to eat. Wow
  31. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Joe Gopher...

    When you folks who constantly scream, "nanny state" finally manage to deregulate everything, do you think that the heroin addicts are going to say, "Thank Goodness that I live in a country that cared enough about me as to not restrict my access to my drug of choice 365.25 days per year?"

    Will the opium dens be open on Christmas Day too?
  32. Nick B. from Oshawa, Canada writes: Robert Miller - the plebescite question was so complicated that I'm reasonably sure that a lot of people who voted "no" didn't really mean no Sunday shopping at all. The stores are open because people want to shop on Sundays. And look at the ridiculous lengths people went to in order to get around the ban - in my hometown in Nova Scotia the local Pharmasave (allowed to open on Sunday) sold everything imaginable but fresh meat and produce. People would drive all the way to Sackville or Moncton on Sundays to shop, or go to places like Pete's Frootique which set itself up to get around the laws quite cleverly. Sunday shopping was a long time coming and a great relief to a lot of people I'm sure.

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