HEATHER BOA Bullet News HURON COUNTY – The long-standing rural tradition of community stag and does to raise money for soon-to-be brides and grooms won’t get security from paid off-duty Huron County OPP officers anymore.
Huron County OPP has informed the county’s nine municipalities that its off-duty officers will no longer supply security to these parties that traditionally raise money through the sale of tickets and alcohol because they are not in compliance with the rules surrounding ACGO special occasion permits, said James Stanley, who is the OPP’s media relations officer.
“I can say with all certainty our officers won’t be providing security for those functions that aren’t in a hundred per cent compliance,” Stanley said. That means no profit, no advertising, and by invitation only.
“It really comes down to safe and responsible service of alcohol,” he said, adding the OPP will be enforcing the rules.
He said some municipalities, such as South Huron, hold a liquor licence permit for a number of years. These municipalities will be provided with paid duty if they are in compliance with AGCO rules.
Despite the change announced by the OPP to municipalities in Huron County and throughout its western region, an AGCO spokesperson said the rules for issuing special occasion permits for private functions haven’t changed.
Lisa Murray said AGCO issues three types of special occasion permits: one to private events like invitation-only weddings that aren’t advertised and don’t make money from the sale of alcohol; one to public events that are fund-raisers organized by charities or non-profit organizations or for which the municipal council has declared to be of municipal significance; and one for industry promotion events to promote a manufacturer’s product.
“For a private event special occasion permit, which is where a lot of people applied for the stag and doe, this has not changed. It’s been like this for many years. You can’t make a profit off the sale of alcohol and you can’t advertise,” she said. She said with 60,000 special occasions issued across the province yearly, AGCO inspectors may not have made it to stag and doe events for inspections.
Central Huron Coun. Dan Colquhoun, who is also manager of the Clinton LCBO, which issues the permits, agreed that the permit process and rules haven’t changed.
“I’m the one that issues the permit. And I’ll issue any buck and doe permit that there is. They’re not illegal. For 39 years, these are the same rules that there have always been,” he told council at a recent committee of the whole meeting.
“I’ve never seen the alcohol and gaming commission shut down a permit in 39 years that I know of. I’ve heard them threaten for 39 years and never seen them do it,” he said.
He made his comments after the municipality’s facilities manager, Steve Campbell, said the OPP’s decision to no longer provide paid duty to buck and does that don’t comply with the permit requirements means that seven events booked at the Central Huron Community Complex probably won’t proceed this year.
He said he told the OPP official who notified him of the change that “twenty or so years ago, you brought them out of the sheds and to a licensed facility, now you’re just sending them back.”
Jim Ginn, the municipality’s mayor, said the issue is similar to an announcement from the Fire Marshal’s Office this past summer that farm buildings used for gatherings must comply with the Building Code and the Fire Code to make sure there are proper entries and exits, flame spread ratings, fire separations, fire alarms and detection systems, and sprinkler systems.
“[Stag and does are] a cultural thing that happens in rural Ontario; much more in rural Ontario than in the cities. I don’t know how many decades it’s been going on and all of a sudden somebody’s decided this is a problem,” he said.
The council plans to take up the issue of changes with Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson.
One Comment on "OPP pull security duty from stag and does"
Dig a little deeper and you will find the answer about why the “off duty” officers will no longer provide this “cash paid” service. I would suggest that it may have more to do with how the officers receive compensation for the “off duty” service they provide than about the regulations which have not changed in at least the past 39 years.