Consuming alcohol in outdoor public places could soon be legal in Saskatchewan’s municipalities and parks. The government of Saskatchewan unanimously passed the bill Thursday that gives municipalities and park authorities the choice to allow, or not, the consumption of liquor in outdoor public places for individuals of legal drinking age.
During question period on May 4, Minister Lori Carr said the bill received royal assent from the Lieutenant Governor.
“The next step is we have to have an order in council for it to be officially passed,” she said. “That will happen shortly, and it will be effective for the summer … municipalities still have the autonomy to decide if they want to allow drinking in the parks. So, they will, as they move forward, decide if that is suitable for their community.”
Carr said the municipalities who asked for the bill are excited to move forward with this.
“I would highlight probably Saskatoon was the biggest push for this when this all started,” she said. “They’re doing some sort of outdoor park and they want to be able to have this as part of that.”
Municipalities will have to actually create a bylaw within their communities. For now, it would be status quo so no drinking in the parks unless a municipality actually brings that bylaw forward.
Even though this legislation was voted in unanimously, the question of allowing the consumption of cannabis would be considered as well. Saskatchewan NDP MLA Nathaniel Teed said the government has no plans to allow for public consumption of cannabis but believes there are a lot of folks in communities that have no legal place to smoke cannabis.
“If public consumption of alcohol is being considered, I think we could be considering public consumption of cannabis, of course, within those same frameworks or different frameworks that municipalities might put in place,” said Teed. “We believe that local voices at the table are really important, local voices know their communities … we trust that municipalities will be able to make the decisions they need to work for them.”
It will be up to each city to decide if they will adopt this bill in their community.
It was not immediately clear where the City of Regina stands on the matter. A request for comment from Global News was not returned by the time of publication.