Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission - History

History

The sale and distribution of beverage alcohol in Alberta had been conducted privately, under licence until 1916 when, during the height of the Prohibition movement, the Liberal government called a plebiscite in which Albertans voted in favour of the Liquor Act, which imposed an outright ban on the sale of alcohol in the province.

As was the case throughout North America, Prohibition proved to be an utter farce in Alberta. However, the United Farmers government that replaced the Liberals in 1921 knew that the still-powerful temperance movement would have to be appeased, so when they called a new plebiscite to repeal Prohibition in 1924, they promised that the sale of alcoholic beverages would be tightly controlled. When the plebiscite passed and Prohibition was repealed, the Liquor Act was replaced by the Liquor Control Act and the Alberta Liquor Control Board was created. The first hotels to be re-licensed were the Palliser Hotel in Calgary and the MacDonald Hotel in Edmonton.

The ALCB would maintain tight control over the Albertan liquor industry for the next seven decades. Hotels that met the strict requirements for a liquor licence had to adhere to draconian rules regarding the décor, cleanliness and aura of the establishment. According to historian David Leonard, the idea was to make drinking establishments as sparse as possible. Patrons were not allowed to stand up with their drinks in hand and entertainment in a licensed beverage room was prohibited. Although women were allowed to drink alongside their male counterparts at first, "mixed" drinking was later blamed for riotous behaviour and in 1928 the Liquor Control Act was amended, so that special rooms had to be put together for "Ladies and Escorts." In the 1930s the ALCB took it upon themselves to hire armed officers to enforce the Liquor Control Act. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police would assume enforcement duties after taking over provincial policing duties from the Alberta Provincial Police in 1932.

Beer off-sales were permitted from hotels starting in 1934, however the sale of wine and hard liquor remained very tightly controlled. As was the case in most Canadian provinces, the only legal way to purchase spirits in Alberta was to travel to a deliberately uninviting ALCB store, where the customer was forced to apply in paper for what they wanted and have it then fetched by a staff member after the customer's age was carefully checked. The ALCB did not permit individualized packaging for wine or spirits, rather they purchased wine and spirits from the wineries and distillers in bulk barrels and bottled them into stone jars and bottles with the ALCB brand for sale in stores. ALCB stores were few and far between (especially in rural areas), and spirits were frequently watered down prior to bottling.

A Social Credit government would assume office in 1935 and the Socreds would go on to dominate Albertan politics for the next three decades. The socially conservative governments of Premiers William Aberhart and Ernest Manning were slower to relax liquor laws compared to most of their contemporaries in other provinces. In one notable policy, the Social Credit government refused to licence commercial airlines during their tenure and took vigorous steps to ensure that commercial flights were not serving alcohol whilst travelling through Alberta airspace.

The Albertan government and ALCB started loosening some restrictions in the 1950s and 1960s. Clubs and canteens could be licensed from 1950 onwards. In a 1957 plebiscite, voters in and near Edmonton and Calgary voted overwhelmingly to de-segregate beverage rooms, however men and women would not be allowed to drink together province-wide until 1967. Having repealed the requirement for customer signatures on counter slips to purchase alcohol in 1965, in 1969 the ALCB opened its first self-serve liquor store in Edmonton. By 1970 the ALCB was no longer bottling products.

The Progressive Conservative government that replaced the Socreds in 1971 moved to loosen restrictions further, lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 after taking office. Although some Albertan MLA's since then have mooted raising the drinking age back to 19 to match the laws of neighbouring British Columbia and Saskatchewan, the lower drinking age remains in effect as of 2009. Responsibility for domestic beer warehousing was transferred to the Alberta Brewers' Agents Limited in 1973.

The 1980s would see restrictions relaxed further, with the first wine stores licensed in 1985 and the first hotel-based cold beer stores approved in 1988. In 1990 hotel off-sales expanded from beer only to beer, wine and spirits.