Alcohol prohibition in Canada's 1920s peak and origins

Alcohol Prohibition in Canada in the 1920s

The campaign against the sale of alcohol had been carried out by groups in Canada for many years. The main idea behind prohibition in Canada was to reduce alcohol consumption by facilitating the abolishment of all entities that concerned themselves with the manufacture, distribution as well as the sale of alcohol. Significant gains were made towards this end and all the provinces ended up embracing prohibition laws with the last to do so being Quebec. It hence follows that the 1920s were the peak of the prohibition era. In this text, I concern myself with alcohol prohibition in Canada in the 1920s.

By definition, prohibition in Canada can be taken to denote a series of actions instituted to end the sale of alcohol at both the provincial as well as county levels. According to Robert Harrington, the main idea behind prohibition was to cripple businesses which concerned themselves with the manufacture, distribution or even sale of alcohol.

The prohibition drive which went all the way into the 1920s started in the late 19th century and much later, it came to be repelled only to be replaced with rules which outlawed the sale of alcohol to those who had not yet attained the age of the majority.

In the 20th century, alcohol drinking in Canada was a norm rather a rarity. This is perhaps what informed the growing popularity of the dry movement which was largely driven by protestant denominations. Apart from the dry movement and the temperance movement, one other major driving force which facilitated prohibition particularly from the year 1917 was the World War I. The argument in this case was that the soldiers coming from war needed to return home to a better place. Further, there were those who were of the opinion that prohibition would go a long way towards averting instances of inefficiency as well as waste of money. However, it is also at around this time that those who were most vocal against prohibition were muffled. It is also at this time that the pressure to enhance prohibition in a majority of provinces began to bear fruit.

Laying the foundation for prohibition

Originally, what spurred prohibition was the view by the temperance movement that the various societal ills were informed by the drinking establishments which littered provinces in Canada. It therefore follows that the discussion of alcohol prohibition in Canada in the 1920s is largely incomplete without a mention of the temperance movement. The Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor as well as the Women's Christian Temperance Union Traffic happened to be some of the strongest temperance organizations in the late 18s.

However, what facilitated a majority of the legislative approaches that went a long way to facilitate prohibition in the 1920s was the earlier Canada Temperance Act passage in 1864.

As per the provisions of the Act, it was possible for a majority vote at the county level to ban liquor sale. Other significant moves that paved the way for the prohibition era include the federal referendum on prohibition and the Canada Temperance Act. But perhaps the most significant of all was the federal referendum on prohibition. Indeed, this is what informed the resolve by individual provinces to pass prohibition laws after the decision was made to omit the introduction of a bill (federal) on prohibition. Hence in that regard, the first quarter decade of the 19th century saw the passage of prohibition laws by a number of provinces in their individual capacity with the first province to pass prohibition laws being Prince Edward Island back in 1901 and the very last to do so being Quebec later in 1919.

The Repeal of the Prohibition laws in the 1920s

It is important to note that the 1920s was the period in which prohibition laws were repealed by a vast majority of provinces. Soon, it was becoming obvious to a number of provinces that huge sums of money were being lost in uncollected taxes as liquor selling was still taking place albeit as an underground business venture. It is also during this period that prohibition seemed to be on the receiving end with those against it claiming that people were still taking alcohol illegally in full contravention of the provisions for prohibition which was increasingly becoming hard to enforce.

Indeed, it is during this period that calls for government regulation as well as the observance of the 'moderation rule' were intensified and an even stronger move was created by the merger of Congregationalism, Methodism and Presbyterianism. Provinces like Ontario too began to realize they were loosing out on revenues and hence argued their case out by proposing government control as far as the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol was concerned. On the repeal of the Ontario temperance act, a referendum was undertaken on October 23rd 1924. The Ontario Temperance Act repeal was narrowly defeated by the referendum which came to be known as the Ontario prohibition referendum.

Indeed, the Ontario government soon after taking power on the platform of the Ontario Temperance Act repeal allowed the sale of liquor provided its alcohol levels were significantly low. It was however not long before the Ontario government officially ended the prohibition amidst heavy regulation after the establishment of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. The board which was established in 1929 was meant to inform the easement of the temperance regime in the province.

The move to repeal the prohibition was intensified further between 1920 and 1925 with a number of provinces (five to be exact) voting in favor of the repeal.

It can be noted that the repeals between 1920 and 1924 set the ground for the passing of the Liquor Control Act which set the ground for more revolutionary changes as far as the sale of liquor was concerned. This act went ahead to reintroduce saloons which enabled people to enjoy their drink in a social setting. Other provinces that sought to repeal prohibition during this period included but were not limited to the Saskatchewan and Alberta provinces. The remaining provinces repealed prohibition by 1930. However, Prince Edward Island became the last province to repeal the prohibition. It is important though to note that even after the repeal of prohibition in a majority of provinces; the manufacture, distribution as well as sale of alcohol continued to be outlawed in some communities which included but were not limited to the Owen Sound City and some areas west of Toronto.

It is also during the 1920s that temperance movements began to engage territorial as well as provincial governments by pressuring them to exercise firm control of liquor control boards so as to effectively regulate the sale as well as distribution of liquor. Observers of the new developments during the 1920s were of the opinion that temperance movements decided to engage the government at the provincial as well as territorial level on the realization that they were fighting a loosing battle as far as banning the sale of alcohol was concerned.

Societal effects of the 1920s prohibition

Though the period between 1902 and 1929 was informed by efforts to repeal the prohibition in favor of government control, it was also the period when the effects of the prohibition started to take shape most particularly in the early 1920s amongst those provinces that were still in favor of prohibition. One of the most evident differences was in the number of convictions made in Canada for alcohol-related offenses. Indeed a majority of jails registered lower inmate numbers as alcohol-related offenses were some of the main contributors to overcrowded jails at the time. In Ontario for instance, there were significant declines in the number of alcohol associated convictions and in 1922, the Ontario Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Trade gave some projections to the effect that alcohol-related convictions had decreased from a 1914 high of 17,413 to a 1921 low of 5,413. In the same projections, significant drops in drunkenness cases were also observed with 1921 registering a low of 6,766; down from the 1915 high of 16,590.

Further, Charles Stelzle is of the opinion that during the prohibition period and most particularly in the early 1920s, families became better off as the levels of disposable income increased with workers showing a higher tendency to take home a significant portion of paychecks.

Efficiency at the industrial level also improved as a result of increased concentration at work and less absenteeism. Indeed, to demonstrate improved performance during the period; statistics show that in the first quarter century, the level of industrial effectiveness as well as productivity in Canada peaked in 1921.

Conclusion

The alcohol prohibition in Canada most particularly in the 1920s was short lived to be regarded as a significant success and as most analysts noted, provinces were driven to adopt the prohibition laws by the pressure pilled upon them by the temperance movements. It is hence understandable why the 1920s were doted with the drive by a vast majority of provinces to repeal prohibition with provinces like Quebec triggering the prohibition rejection drive in 1919. Other provinces that closely followed suit in the campaign to repeal prohibition were Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The last to beat a retreat from prohibition was Prince Edward Island.