EDMONTON – Should the province’s liquor laws be less restrictive? It’s a question that’s being floated by a couple MLAs after a one-day reprieve allowed alcohol to be served in Alberta bars starting at 5 a.m. Sunday, for Team Canada’s gold medal game.
Ministers Thomas Lukaszuk and Jonathan Denis put the question up for discussion on Twitter and Facebook, and received an overwhelming number of responses.
Edmonton councillor Ben Henderson believes revisiting Alberta’s liquor laws wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
“A lot of our liquor laws, I think, are based on some old thinking,” he said. “One of the problems that we’ve had for a long time is when everybody closes at the same time, the floods of people that come out that literally get locked out on the street.”
He would like to see some conversation around how bars close at the end of the night, and whether a more staggered approach would work better.
Alberta’s finance minister Doug Horner says the discussion on this is just beginning, so the province is still a long ways away from seeing any specific changes being made.
But Horner is looking into how Sunday’s festivities played out in Alberta bars. Alberta Gaming and Liquor will be collecting feedback from law enforcement, licensees and municipalities.
“I trust they’ll use the feedback they receive to help them make informed decisions about any similar future requests,” he said, adding that the government has committed to reviewing the Gaming and Liquor Act over the next year.
“Certainly the discussions that have taken place over social media over the past weekend will be taken into consideration as we develop our public consultation. I know this is a topic that gets Albertans talking.”
Those who work with people battling addictions hope to be part of the conversation. Patricia Bencz, executive director of Our House Addiction Recovery, says demand for their services has been growing, and she’d prefer to see regulations on alcohol strengthened.
“It would be better if it was less available in the communities, I mean, there certainly are a large number of liquor stores.”
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Those in the bar and restaurant industry argue, however, that this is about giving Albertans the opportunity to come together for special occasions.
Meanwhile, liquor laws in British Columbia will soon be changing. Over the next few months, the government is promising to implement dozens of recommendations proposed in a sweeping review.
Horner says making alcohol available in grocery and convenience stores isn’t on the table in Alberta.
With files from Tom Vernon, Global News
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