News Agencies – July 24, 2012
A 14-year-old boy was able to buy liquor at three LCBO [Liquor Control Board of Ontario] outlets without having to show identification. A stunt orchestrated by the Sun News Network has shed light on how easy it can be for minors to buy alcohol in the Greater Toronto Area — provided they dress the part. As the Toronto Sun reports, controversial broadcaster and writer David Menzies sent a 14-year-old boy clad in a full-length burka and face veil to buy liquor at three LCBOs north of the city.
His goal, he said, was to expose deficiencies in the province’s Liquor Licence Act, which prohibits the sale of alcohol to anyone under the age of 19, and to challenge their claims of social responsibility. The three unopened bottles, he said, were later taken from the teen after he left the store. Critics of the host’s undercover crackdown flipped the legal accountability finger back at Menzies, calling for his arrest over “coercing” a young boy to purchase alcohol and for “corrupting the morals of a minor.”
