Group welcomes possible changes to liquor store hours

First the province changed the rules that would give municipalities the ability to set their own hours for sales and then the city decided to draft a bylaw.

While the bylaw has not yet been presented to council, Howell is hopeful their lobbying efforts were successful.

The Executive Committee of council did vote unanimously a week ago to have the bylaw drafted and at the time no members of council voiced any concerns.

Howell said the group has been working on making changes in what is sees as a major issue in the city with overconsumption and misuse of alcohol.

“We were trying to actually see restrictions put on the number of liquor stores in Prince Albert and restrictions on the hours,” he said.

Council’s direction to council was to word the bylaw to reduce the current hours to between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Currently, at least two retailers sell until 3 a.m. and it’s the late night availability that tends to lead to issues such as drunk driving, domestic violence or other alcohol-related crimes, Howell argues.

“We are of the view that no good comes out of any alcohol purchased in the early mornings. People who are involved with drinking at that time have usually been at it for a while,” Howell said.

The buyers after 11 p.m. are doing so on impulse but, according to the retailers, this is when they make almost 50 per cent of their sales.

It is also when most of the problems start, Howell explained.

“It sort of fuels the flames, the party continues. The family violence happens. The impaired driving or the deaths from impaired driving,” he said.

Prince Albert has had incidents where young infants have been assaulted by drunk people and been killed.

The Province of Saskatchewan has been loosening restrictions, such as allowing alcohol to be consumed in parks.

Mayor Greg Dionne has been outspoken in the past about his opposition to that, saying the city is already struggling to deal with the impacts of alcohol and other intoxicants or stimulants, such as meth.

According to Howell, there are sometimes people waiting outside of liquor stores, waiting for them to open at 8 a.m. While he is not so naïve as to think the same people would not wait until 10 or 11 a.m., at least it is three more hours with no consumption.

“It’s not going to change the nature of the issues we face in Prince Albert,” Howell said, but pointed to what happened in La Ronge when hours were restricted there.

Before the reduction, the community was seeing about 100 emergency room visits monthly due to excessive drinking. Alcohol was also involved in 86 per cent of patient visits for self-harm, attempted suicide and assaults for people older than 16.

Those stats dropped after the city reduced hours alcohol could be sold, Howell said.

A lot of attention is given to drug use in Prince Albert, particularly crystal meth, but alcohol still causes more harm than any other substance.

A presentation to city council recently included this graph, showing the impact of various substances across Canada.

Use and abuse of alcohol affects a wider range of the population, he explained, ranging from underaged youth to middle class adults.

“While the drugs tend to be more localized to specific groups, alcohol is more widely used and anybody can get into serious trouble if you’re drinking and driving or there’s issues in the home with violence,” Howell said.

No specific date has been given for Prince Albert’s administrative staff to have a sample bylaw for council to consider as yet.

paNOW reached out to several liquor retailers for comment but received no reply prior to publication.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Group welcomes possible changes to liquor store hours

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