Doctors Nova Scotia joins voices opposed to expanding booze sales in N.S.

The Nova Scotia government has wrapped up consultations that will help determine if it will allow alcohol to be sold in more places, including grocery and corner stores.

It's a move that Doctors Nova Scotia fears will cause significantly more harm than good.

In June, 14 physicians who specialize in addiction medicine wrote an open letter to Finance Minister John Lohr, whose department is overseeing the process, saying alcohol already causes more than 500 deaths a year in Nova Scotia. Now, those doctors have the backing of the provincial organization that advocates for physicians.

Dr. Shelly McNeil, president of Doctors Nova Scotia, sent an email to members this week saying they are unequivocally opposed to expanding the availability of alcohol.

"We are imploring decision makers to think about it not just in the immediate increase in revenues, but also in the long-term costs in the system," she told CBC News.

"There's lots of evidence of the harms that come from this kind of policy shift."

Representatives from breweries and wineries say they participated in the consultations.

There were submissions from organizations who support the move, including the Retail Council of Canada, which argues that the sales will help stores that are losing business to online shopping.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is also for the change. It initially recommended allowing the sale of beverages that do not exceed 7.1 per cent alcohol by volume in convenience and grocery stores and opening those rules to all small businesses, not just large retailers. But it has since changed its stance to make certain any limits would not exclude local wines.

Ontario expanded alcohol sales to smaller stores last year while setting limits on the volume of alcohol.

But McNeil said Ontario's health-care system is already seeing the downside to greater access, referring to a 17 per cent increase in hospital visits connected to alcohol.

A similar increase in Nova Scotia would mean 7,600 extra visits to the emergency department a year, she said.

"In an already overburdened system, we can't afford to have our emergency volumes go up that much and we can't afford the harms that come to people that lead them to the emergency department."

In Nova Scotia, alcohol is sold mainly at NSLC stores, agency stores in rural communities, four private stores in the Halifax area and sites owned by breweries, distilleries and wineries.

McNeil said one of her concerns lies with expansion to locations with less regulation, where teens would be more likely to be able to find a way to buy booze.

She said research shows alcohol can lead to increased rates of nine cancers, cardiovascular disease and chronic illnesses.

She is also worried about societal issues, pointing to intimate partner violence, which politicians in the provincial legislature declared in September 2024 to be an epidemic in Nova Scotia, and drinking and driving.

She said Doctors Nova Scotia has been happy with the Progressive Conservative government's work on health care to date but fears a decision in favour of expanding alcohol sales could undermine that work.

"We really worry that this will take a bite out of the progress that has been made."

McNeil said Doctors Nova Scotia made its submission in writing as part of the consultations, but she's urging policymakers to reach out and speak to physicians directly. 

The Finance Department said in a statement that it is reviewing input from the consultations and it will determine the next steps. It won't say when Nova Scotians might hear an update.