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Milk on tap in Ontario

Broadcast Date: April 17, 1975

Make mine a double — skim. Serving a tall glass of milk atop a tray full of beer is hardly a refreshing idea for the manager of Toronto's oldest pub. Even though the Wheat Sheaf Tavern's Don Felora has nothing against milk, he doesn't think it belongs in a bar.

"I don't go to a shoe store to order a glass of beer," says Felora in this clip of a 1975 CBC Radio interview.

The pub manager refers to proposed legislation that could make selling milk and coffee next to pints of Guinness mandatory. Manitoba and some American states already have similar laws in place. Felora supposes the bill's an attempt to sober up pub-goers who have had a few too many. But serving milk, he explains, is just going to make more work for his already busy bartenders.

Milk on tap in Ontario

• Although the proposed legislation never passed, bars in Ontario were required as of 1990 to sell nonalcoholic drinks for moderate prices.
• Bar owners must also offer "light meals," which means providing a menu of at least five snacks or side dishes. (Liquor Sales Licence, regulation 719, section 38, 1990.)
• Establishments such as restaurants, bars, clubs and hotels must obtain a liquor licence and adhere to its regulations in order to serve alcohol on the premises.

• The cost of liquor licences vary. A regular bar in Ontario paid $1,055 for a two-year licence in 2002. Smaller bars pay less. A golf club bar, for example, paid $400 for two years in 2002, and the rate for a trade show bar was $25 per day.
• The Toronto pub mentioned in this radio clip — called the Wheat Sheaf — served milk to customers at the bar in 2003. Open since the late-1840s, it is Toronto's oldest pub.

• Rumour has it that during the pub's early days, soldiers sneaked away for a pint using a secret tunnel from the Wheat Sheaf to Fort York. Beer became the soldiers' best substitute for water as Fort York's drinking supply was often contaminated.

Also on April 17:
• 1967: Prime Minister Lester Pearson announces the creation of the Order of Canada, a decoration to honour outstanding Canadian citizens. The first awards were presented on July 7.
• 1982: Queen Elizabeth signs a proclamation transferring Canada's 1867 constitution from Britain. The new Constitution adds a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. All provinces except Quebec approve it.

Milk on tap in Ontario

Medium: Radio

Program: As It Happens

Broadcast Date: April 17, 1975

Guest(s): Don Felora

Host: Alan Maitland

Duration: 4:31

Last updated:
April 10, 2006