They haven’t ruled it out, but they haven’t committed to it either. The Ford government has allowed restaurants to sell booze to go, either for takeout or delivery, and allowed cannabis shops to deliver for the last while due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Will they let it stay once we start returning to “normal”?

The question was put to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prabmeet Sarkaria, Ford’s Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction.

“There’s gonna be a lot of things, as we say, the new way of doing business and not only in government, but in the private sector too,” Ford said Monday during his regular update.

“I’ve talked to so many CEOs and they’ve realized, wow, there’s a better way of doing things, more efficient way of doing things that are going to benefit not just the customer, but benefit their staff and their employees.”

Ford didn’t say the practice would stay, but didn’t dismiss it either. As for Sarkaria, he said he continues to listen and consult.

“You know, I would say that all the conversations that I’ve had with small business owners, restaurant owners that are using this have given us great feedback on how much of a help it’s been,” Sarkaria said. “We’ll do anything we can to support our restaurant owners.”

Despite the enthusiasm from some restaurant owners, the problem with allowing beer, wine or spirits to be sold for take-out or delivery from restaurants, could actually come be the agreement the Wynne Liberals signed with The Beer Store.

The agreement committed the government to now allowing more than a certain amount of retail outlets to sell beer for the duration of the agreement, violation of that could lead to lawsuits.

There should be no impediment to allowing licenced cannabis stores to continue offering delivery, something illegal shops and online businesses continue to offer without penalty.