So I had no idea that Ontario was the bitch province of Canada. I took a nice trip with a few of my freinds to Grand Island in upstate New York over the summer. Turns out, the Canadian/US border is just down the road. Go us! 18 to drink, right? Wrong. Unfortunately I found this out the hard way. We cross the border at night looking for something to do. What pops into our head? Strip club! After asking around for a decent titty bar we come across what seems to be a nice establishment. Sweet! Gonna look at some girls, have a few drinks… good times. So, with our i.d.'s handy, we step up to the bouncer. One by one my friends head in. My turn. I hand him my military id. Its all I had on me since I left my license in my hotel room. His eyes went from the i.d. to me about six times or so, before he proclaims “How about I keep this, and you get the fck out of here?"
“Excuse me?”
"You heard me. Get the fck out of here.”
“Can I have my i.d. back please?”
“Nope.”
“You can’t keep that!”
“Call the cops if you want it back.”
I grab my cell phone and dial the local PD. About twenty minutes later the cops show up, and the bouncer starts giving them this story that I tried to use my i.d. fraudulently. The cop turns to me and proceeds to tell me that since I was 18 (at the time) and the legal age to enter the establishment is 19 I broke the law or some shit. So not even the cops are going to give back my i.d. He told me that he could either give me a fine and not give me back my i.d. or just not give me back my i.d.
By then I realized my efforts were useless and suggested to the officer that I must have dropped my i.d. somehwere on the streets, and that my only hopes were that whoever finds it destroys it. So we left. End of story. 19 eh? You suck Ontario. You suck balls.
It’s 18 in Alberta sk8rixtx… none of the other provinces AFAIK are 18. Maybe you guys shoulda made sure of the drinking age before you tried to get into a bar? I know I would’ve but then I’d be embarrassed to be turned away like that…
Any Canadian coulda told you that drinking ages alternate east to west…
BC - 19
Alberta - 18
Saskatchewan - 19
Manitoba - 18
Ontario - 19
Quebec - 18
(and then the Maritime Provinces go and screw the nice pattern up, so we lump them all together out of spite - they hate being lumped together :D)
Maritimes - 19
On preview, any Canadian besides Obsidian Flutterby
Hey! I’ve never been drinking out of province, my Mom remembers when Nova Scotia was 21… I just never paid much attention to it. I’m not much of a drinker. Besides… that just means I’ve been legal completely across Canada for almost 2 years now.
I’ve never gotten this crossing-the-border-to-drink thing. Isn’t it way easier to find someone a couple years older than you and send him/her to the liquor store? It’s not like there’s that few 21-year-olds around.
At the risk of being a ‘self questioner’ it’s because you used it in relation to getting <scary voice> demon alcohol </scary voice> :rolleyes: we really just need to get over ourselves.
OK, so you’re the fuck nut who went to a bar in a foreign country and didn’t bring a piece of familiar ID, cauesed a stink cause you couldn’t get in, and Ontario is to blame?
Dude, get a grip.
That may be the laziest paraphrase I’ve ever seen! Did you even listen to what the officer was telling you? Doesn’t look like it. You still don’t know what the root problem was.
What slays me is that you seem to be (or have been) in Military service. You seem to have a pretty poor grasp on basic tasks like foreign travel, or preparedness.
What gives the establishment, OR the police, the right to take his ID? The fact that he mistakenly thought the legal age was 18 instead of 19? He willingly, without deception, offered up an ID that gave his age as 18. WTF is wrong with that?
Considering that Gorsnak helpfully indicated that Canada’s drinking age varies across the country, one would think that an 18yo from the US might think 18 was the drinking age.
I guess it’s just a bit too much to expect a bouncer to say “Sorry, dude, the drinking age is 19, not 18 (like in other parts of CA), you can’t enter.”
All identification cards belong to the government, IIRC. The person whom they identify are merely the bearers of it. The situation described in the OP was that of “presenting an identification to enter an establishment with a required minimum age” and was thus an illegal use of the identification. I’m sure one of the lawyers who frequent these esteemed boards will be happy to restate that with the proper legal terminology. Since the identitifcation card was used in an illegal manner, the checker kept it, no doubt, to ensure it was not so used again elsewhere. Back in my military days (not so long ago), my unit would receive identification cards that had been confiscated. Couple of people weren’t too happy when their “lost ID card” story was proven false and their CO “discussed” it with them.
I imagine the bartender thought that it was a fake ID and that is why he kept it. I used to do this when working in a store and kids used to try to buy smokes with a fake ID. Let’s see… it’s an out of province drivers license, with the laminate taped shut and a really cheesy picture that might be you.
No one ever called the cops on me.
However, why the cop kept the ID is beyond me. Was it city police, OPP or RCMP?
I think Ontario was the steal of the NFL draft. He’s got some serious speed. And once Tice finally makes a decision in the backfield, I think he’s got a real chance. The big question mark is what’s going to happen when Bennett gets back.
I’m so sorry that I didn’t prepare an itinerary for a trip that was to last one evening, looking at boobs. I’ll be sure to contact my travel agent next time I decide to go out to the strip club. Thanks for the advice.
Why is Ontario being blamed for someone wanting to go and look at boobs? Are you mad because you couldn’t get into a strip club to drink and stare at naked girls?
I’m sorry but I’m from Ontario and I happen to think it’s a nice place. I don’t see how one place justifies the entire province.
As a western Canadian who’s lived in Ontario for the last 10 years I can empathize a little with the O.P. This province has a very conservative, almost puritan mentality when it comes to alcohol. Until recently, cut off time was an incredibly early 1 am, all liquor and beer stores were closed Sundays and at 6 pm on weekdays. Even today, at major events like professional sports and concerts you’re not even allowed to order more than 2 beers at a time! Contrast this with Quebec where the clubs and bars serve until 3 am; beer and wine can be purchased at convenience stores (a rarity here in Canada where tightly controlled government run liquor stores are the norm); and the drinking age of 18 is just a guideline at many bars. La Belle Province indeed!
The bouncers and wait staff here in Ontario are disciples of the government’s heavy-handed control of liquor. Bar staff have to undergo “server training” which is a government certification that places controls on serving liquor (when to cut someone off, etc.) and the bouncers generally relish the opportunity to lay down the law–forcefully. The scene the OP describes is one that I’ve witnessed hundreds of times in my clubbing career since moving to Toronto. .
My advice to the OP: the next time you and your buddies want to party in a laid back and welcoming environment free of harassment go to Montreal, Quebec. As mentioned, your age is a non-issue and it’s the titty bar capitol of Canada.