pearson airport toronto

Toronto airports can now serve alcohol 24/7

In a move that will surely make the experience of flying slightly less annoying for some, the Ontario government has passed a bill allowing alcohol to be sold 24 hours a day within commercial airports.

The change is one of more than 200 proposed through the Ford government's freshly-adopted Better for People, Smarter for Business Act, which was tabled in October to address "unnecessary or outdated rules" in the province.

"The Act is part of the government's signature package to address red tape and modernize regulations to make life easier for people and business," reads a release announcing the Legislature's passing of Bill 132.

"The legislation will lower the cost of doing business by making it simpler and more cost-effective to comply with regulations — leading to more jobs, higher wages and more opportunities for hard-working families."

Along with increasing the availability of alcohol even more within the province, the act allows restaurant owners to decide whether or not to permit dogs on their patios, clarifies regulations surrounding food banks, increases environmental violation penalties, and streamlines the approval processes for trucking safety, emissions inspections and hydrolectric dams — among other things.

Previous to the passing of Bill 132, licensed establishments in Ontario airports could only sell or serve alcohol between the hours of 9 a.m. and 2 a.m.

Now, bars and restaurants within commercial airports located after airport security can say goodbye to last call.

"Today the [Ontario government] officially passed a bill allowing 24-hour sales of alcohol at the province's airports," tweeted the official account for Canada's largest air travel hub, Pearson International Airport, on Thursday.

"This will result in greater choice and flexibility for our valued passengers."

Just moments after sending its initial tweet, Pearson published a subsequent message, writing: "We would like to take this time to remind passengers to please enjoy alcoholic beverages in a safe and responsible manner during their time at the airport."

We shall try our best.

Lead photo by

Jimmy Wu


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