(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Liquor sales

Advocates ask for 12-hour liquor sale cap in P.A.

Feb 28, 2023 | 9:28 AM

Advocates from a Prince Albert-based committee looking at slowing the impacts of alcohol in the city have asked council to cap the daily sale hours at 12 for stores while bars and lounges would not be included.

Brian Howell spoke to council on Monday and said while he knows it’s impossible to stop consumption completely, it can be reduced or made safer.

“Where we used to have one store for 30,000 people we now have 10 for 40,000 people, so that’s 10 times. There is a direct correlation between the amount of liquor store and the amount of drinking that goes on,” said Howell.

Over the last several decades, the province has relaxed the control on sales and expanded availability.

Howell proposed that sales be limited to a 12-hour window and thought that 11 am to 11 pm would be a reasonable time. No good has ever come from people buying alcohol at 8:00 am, he said.

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The extended hours have been an issue and one that Mayor Greg Dionne has spoken about in the past.

“Some of us, me included, believe well let’s not affect that. Let’s start by closing on Christmas Day, closing on Easter Sunday,” Dionne said.

While council did not commit to any particular course of action, they did ask city solicitor Mitch Holash to investigate what options might be available to them.

Dionne said he and some of the city management have a meeting scheduled on Wednesday with provincial authorities to discuss the city’s regulatory powers.

There has been some confusion, Howell and the committee said when they asked the province to reduce the hours and were told the municipality could make changes if they wanted to.

Exactly how has not been made clear, said the mayor, and that is what he will seek to confirm on Wednesday.

In the past, certain holidays such as Christmas and Easter as well as election days had required the closure of liquor stores.

That has changed and has had an impact not only on the amount of drinking but also on the workload of law enforcement who used to get a break on the days there were no sales.

“We used to be closed four or five days a year to give our police a rest, we don’t get that anymore,” said Dionne.

Decades ago, the city had one liquor store and some off-sales and that was it. Howell knows that going back to that point is not a realistic option.

“We’re not so naïve as to think this would stop Prince Albert’s problem,” he said. “But who has the most to lose from these hours? It’s not the (government’s) community that’s impacted. It’s clear that we must take this initiative on ourselves.”

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com