Correct Answer: how far alcohol sales should spread to local shops
Passage Reference: a plan that would let corner stores and supermarket shelves offer beer and wine next to the milk and bread
Why this is correct: The editorial opens with a plan to let corner stores and grocery aisles sell beer and wine. Every paragraph then weighs how far that change should go.
Tips: For a “mainly about” question, find the plan named in the first sentence. Then check that each speaker is reacting to that same plan.
Why the other options are wrong:
- whether grocery stores should stay open all night: Store hours come up only as one of Achebe’s limits. The editorial is not about opening all night.
- how to pay for more hospital treatment beds: Delorme mentions full treatment beds as a warning, but paying for new beds is never discussed.
- why beer prices have gone up this year: Prices are never mentioned. The editorial is about where beer and wine may be sold.
Correct Answer: Reuben Delorme
Passage Reference: The treatment beds in poorer neighbourhoods are full now ... and that is where the new licences will cluster
Why this is correct: Reuben Delorme says treatment beds in poorer neighbourhoods are already full and adds that this is where the new licences will cluster. In other words, he expects new stores to be concentrated in poorer areas.
Tips: Two speakers talk about where alcohol sellers are, so read both closely. One only asks for information, while the other predicts what will happen.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Marisol Achebe: Marisol Achebe argues that limited sales would do more good than harm. She does not say new stores would gather in poorer areas.
- Jolene Marchand: Jolene Marchand worries about inspectors who cannot see complaints across a boundary, not about where new stores would be located.
- Pascal Olmstead: Pascal Olmstead wants maps of where sellers are already bunched together. But it is Delorme who predicts that new licences will cluster in poorer neighbourhoods.
Correct Answer: cities where store limits did not raise teen drinking
Passage Reference: cities abroad which capped the number of stores per neighbourhood did not see the rise in teen drinking that critics predicted
Why this is correct: Achebe argues that limited sales would do more good than harm. Her evidence is that cities which capped the number of stores did not see more teen drinking. More cities like that would support her.
Tips: Find the evidence Achebe gave the committee. The right choice would add more proof of that same kind.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a rise in intoxicated patients on busy weekend nights: More intoxicated patients would support Delorme’s warning about harm, which works against Achebe’s case.
- records of complaints missed across city boundaries: Missed complaints across boundaries would support Marchand’s point about inspectors, not Achebe’s claim about limited sales.
- a survey of shoppers who dislike age checks: Shoppers disliking age checks would weaken Achebe’s plan, since she wants every till to record a digital age check.
Correct Answer: joint inspection teams would be funded before new licences
Passage Reference: She would support Achebe’s limited plan if the province paid for joint inspection teams before any new licences are issued.
Why this is correct: Marchand would support the limited plan only if the province paid for joint inspection teams before any new licences are issued. So her condition calls for the teams to be funded first.
Tips: Marchand’s condition follows the word “if” in the third paragraph. Read that clause closely and match it in other words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- new licences would be issued before inspectors are hired: This reverses Marchand’s order: she wants the inspection teams paid for before any new licences are issued.
- stores would check themselves and report once a year: Marchand never suggests that stores inspect themselves. She wants inspection teams paid for by the province.
- only large grocery chains would receive licences: Marchand does not limit licences to large chains. Her condition is about inspection teams, not the size of the store.
Correct Answer: both partly right
Passage Reference: Achebe is correct that a legal store with an age check is safer than a sale in a parking lot, while Delorme rightly notes that the costs would not fall evenly
Why this is correct: In the last paragraph, the paper says Achebe is correct about one thing and that Delorme rightly notes another. It agrees with part of each argument, so it treats them as partly right.
Tips: Read the sentence in the last paragraph that names Achebe and Delorme together. Match what the paper says to a choice.
Why the other options are wrong:
- both simply mistaken: The paper says Achebe is correct and Delorme rightly notes a real cost, so it does not call them mistaken.
- wholly in agreement: Achebe and Delorme disagree about the plan, and the editorial presents them as holding different views.
- less informed than owners: Store owners are never compared with them. The last paragraph names a point on which each one is right.
Correct Answer: undercover shoppers at random
Passage Reference: She also wants undercover shoppers to test stores at random
Why this is correct: Achebe wants undercover shoppers to test stores at random, in addition to a digital age check at every till.
Tips: Go back to Achebe’s lines and find the sentence that starts “She also wants”. It tells you who would do the testing and how.
Why the other options are wrong:
- police officers once a month: Achebe never mentions police visits. She wants undercover shoppers to test stores at random.
- neighbours who file reports: Reports from neighbours belong to Olmstead’s complaint line, not to Achebe’s testing plan.
- the store owners themselves: Achebe does not leave the testing to owners. She wants undercover shoppers to do it.
Correct Answer: a daily habit instead of a weekend errand
Passage Reference: He argues that more outlets would turn buying alcohol from a weekend errand into a daily habit.
Why this is correct: The emergency physician, Reuben Delorme, argues that more outlets would turn buying alcohol from a weekend errand into a daily habit.
Tips: The comment calls him “the emergency physician”. Find his argument about what more outlets would change in people’s buying.
Why the other options are wrong:
- cheaper than it is today: Delorme never talks about prices. His worry is how often people would buy alcohol.
- easier for teenagers than for adults: Teen drinking comes up in Achebe’s evidence, not in Delorme’s argument about daily buying.
- a problem mostly in the downtown core: Delorme points to poorer neighbourhoods, and the downtown core is never mentioned.
Correct Answer: about stores in a neighbouring city
Passage Reference: Inspectors in one city, she explains, cannot see complaints about a store just across a municipal boundary
Why this is correct: Marchand runs licensing for a large city. She explains that inspectors in one city cannot see complaints about a store just across a municipal boundary. That means a store in the neighbouring city.
Tips: The comment calls her “the licensing manager”. Find her point about what inspectors cannot see and read that sentence to the end.
Why the other options are wrong:
- that arrive after office hours: Marchand never mentions the time complaints arrive. The problem is complaints about a store across a municipal boundary.
- sent in without a name: Nameless complaints are never discussed. Marchand’s point is about stores just across a boundary.
- that are more than a year old: The age of a complaint is never mentioned. Marchand says a seller can go unnoticed for months because of the boundary.
Correct Answer: noise and litter
Passage Reference: neighbours need a phone line where they can report noise and litter
Why this is correct: Olmstead points out that neighbours need a phone line where they can report noise and litter.
Tips: The comment names Olmstead and his phone line. Read the sentence about that line and see what neighbours would report.
Why the other options are wrong:
- sales to teenagers: Olmstead’s phone line is for noise and litter. Teen drinking comes up only in Achebe’s evidence.
- stores open past midnight: Olmstead never mentions late opening hours. He wants neighbours able to report noise and litter.
- drivers who have been drinking: Drinking and driving is never mentioned in the editorial.
Correct Answer: in a limited number of stores for two years
Passage Reference: The province should allow sales in a limited number of stores for two years
Why this is correct: The last paragraph recommends that the province allow sales in a limited number of stores for two years. It should also fund inspectors first and publish the maps.
Tips: The comment speaks to the paper, so look for the paper’s own advice to the province. It is in the “should” sentence near the end.
Why the other options are wrong:
- in every corner store by next spring: The paper wants a limited number of stores, not every corner store, and it names no spring deadline.
- only in stores outside the north end: The north end is mentioned only as the place where Olmstead works. The editorial does not keep sales out of it.
- only during daytime hours on weekdays: Sales are not limited to weekday daytime hours. The paper limits the number of stores and the length of the trial.
