TORONTO – Would Ontario’s convenience stores sell alcohol to minors? That’s the position the Beer Stores are taking as the battle to relax Ontario’s alcohol laws heats up, the Toronto Star reports.

In a commercial from the Beer Stores, minors are seen buying alcohol as easily as gum at a convenience store, with the clerk even wishing them to “have fun tonight, boys” after their purchase. “I’m disappointed and I’ll let the commercial speak for itself,” said Dave Bryans, CEO of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association.

Bryans and his group have collected more than 400,000 signatures on a petition to allow corner stores to sell beer and wine. “By most accounts, Ontarians aren’t impressed with the questionable tactics of the foreign-owned Beer Store as it tries to protect its near monopoly in this province,” he said.

The association pointed out that Quebec and British Columbia let more retailers sell beer and wine, plus the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) already allows more than 200 retailers sell beer, spirits and wine alongside bread and milk. “This isn’t 1927, this isn’t 1960. This is a time when millions of Ontarians want to be treated like millions of Canadians,” said Bryans.

The ads are blanketing the airwaves as spring elections near, and Progressive Conservatives vow to expand wine and beer sales beyond Beer Store and the LCBO locations.