All liquor stores in Prince Albert will be limited to opening between 10  a.m. and 11 p.m. starting June 1 (file photo/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Liquor stores must change hours

Prince Albert limits liquor store hours

Apr 23, 2024 | 12:45 PM

Liquor stores in the City of Prince Albert will no longer be allowed to open before 10 a.m. and must close at 11 pm.

Council passed third reading of the bylaw making the change at their regular meeting on Monday night, a change that has been pushed for by the local Community Alcohol Strategy Steering Committee for years.

“When people are buying alcohol at two in the morning or three in the morning, it’s not as if the party is just starting or they’re going to join with their friends and have a drink or two,” said Brian Howell, one of the committee members.

“In the worlds I’ve inhabited, it’s because the party has been going on way too long and it’s gonna never stop, you know, and you see incidences of violence occur.”

In January, council was given a report that shows how the city is impacted by alcohol.

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The former Prince Albert Parkland Health Region sees more hospitalizations from alcohol consumption in a year than the rest of the province and the rate is almost double the national average.

Home violence also increases when people have been drinking.

“There’s been a couple of babies killed in Prince Albert because of parents drinking and becoming violent when they couldn’t control them. And it always seems to happen in the morning, you know, which kind of tells you that people were drinking through the evening and all through the night and into the next morning. I mean, if we can do that, we can do anything,” Howell said.

They know prohibition does not work and are not advocating for the end of alcohol sales.

READ MORE: City council was given data on the impact of alcohol in Prince Albert in January

When the group first asked the city to make the changes, they thought it would be a straightforward process.

They quickly found out otherwise as liquor store hours were then regulated by the province.

It took some time and some advocacy, but first the province changed its rules so municipalities could choose their own hours. Then the city asked for a report into the pros and cons of limiting hours and then the bylaw was created.

Some councillors asked about the likelihood that people would just go to buy alcohol in areas outside the city. Another concern raised in the report was by small liquor retailers who make most of their sales after 11 p.m. Some stay open until 3 a.m. and would open again at 8 a.m.

People will still be able to buy alcohol in bars and restaurants after 11 p.m. and those places will be allowed off-sales, as long as the amount of food sold is at least 50 per cent of the amount of alcohol sold.

While the bylaw is effective for a year and will then be reviewed by council, the group does not expect it to be dropped then.

“The police are behind it. Fire and ambulance are behind it,” Howell explained. “Housing managers and affordable housing people and the general entire housing community, rental housing managers are behind it. And you know, everybody is thinking this is a is a good thing.”

The changes take effect June 1, 2024 and city staff will inform liquor retailers and the SLGA.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com