The Toronto Music Industry Advisory Council is pushing to have the city extend last call at bars across Toronto and not just for special occasions.
The request by the advisory council will be considered at tomorrow’s Economic Development and Culture Committee meeting.
“No decisions will be made tomorrow. It is simply a request for the city to look at this and to make determinations as to whether or not this is a good or a bad thing,” Coun. Michael Thompson, chair of the Economic Development and Culture Committee, told CP24 Sunday.
“There will be some recommendations that will come out at a future date.”
Thompson said staff would look at all the potential impacts associated with extending last call, including noise, transportation issues and the possibility of additional policing costs.
“Additionally, operators who would be looking at extending their hours will have to make a determination as to whether or not it will be good for their business or bad for their business,” he added.
Currently the city does offer special permission for bars to extend their hours of operation for special events such as the Toronto International Film Festival and Canadian Music Week.
Thompson said the reaction to permanently extending bar hours has been mixed.
“We are getting some people who are supportive of it, some people who are not,” he added.
“I just wanted to remind folks and we are actually not going to do something tomorrow without consultation, without actually having the information.”
Tomorrow’s meeting gets underway at 9:30 a.m.
