Sask. city moves to restrict hours of alcohol retailers

A new bylaw in Prince Albert will restrict the hours of operation at liquor retailers in the city.

On Monday city councillors approved the bylaw, which only allows the sale of alcohol between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Anna Dinsdale, the city’s community safety and well-being coordinator, told councillors La Ronge implemented a similar rule in 2018 and experienced a 13 per cent decrease in alcohol-related visits to the emergency room.

According to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Saskatchewan has nearly twice the rate of hospitalizations caused by alcohol as the rest of Canada, at 415 per 100,000 population.

In the Prince Albert health region, it’s higher still — at 540.

“The research suggests that we will see benefits across from traffic safety, crimes, including potentially violent crimes, intoxicated calls for emergency services, people attending emergency, the emergency department,” she said.

"That’s the real benefit that we would hope to see as a community.”

Ward 6 councillor Blake Edwards said he supports anything that could reduce the rates of public intoxication in the community.

“It’s got out of hand in today’s society, not just in Prince Albert,” Edwards said.

“And so I’m fully supportive of reducing public intoxication, because somehow society’s just allowed it. It’s okay to be loaded on the streets and harassing people that are trying to shop.”

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In the process of her public consultations over the new bylaw, Dinsdale says she had almost unanimous support from those in human service fields, particularly emergency service providers.

The city’s smaller liquor retailers were less enthusiastic.

They told Dinsdale the bylaw would put them at a significant disadvantage to the larger stores, like Co-op Liquor, which can negotiate better wholesale prices because of their size.

Smaller off-sales said they rely on staying open later than larger stores, and their business model is based on impulse purchasing, said Dinsdale.

“They feel that it’s not fair for some retailers to be penalized … when they feel that amongst retailers there are some that are much more, perhaps, ethical than others and conduct themselves in a more ethical way.”

Dinsdale said Prince Albert’s smaller alcohol retailers told her the bylaw would force them to fire a significant number of staff.

“One retailer said they currently spend $200,000 a year on security, and if the bylaws were passed, they would no longer be spending those dollars,” she said.

Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne said it’s not unreasonable to expect people to plan their alcohol purchases in advance.

“It’s no different than grocery stores. I know the hours of my grocery stores. I don’t forget to go get groceries,” he said.

“You look at every record in Canada. We’re the worst province for impaired drivers, we’re the worst province for death. We consume the most alcohol in the country … I don’t want any of those records.”

Dionne argued the city already does a lot to protect smaller alcohol retailers.

“Those little guys have to remember we only have 10 liquor licences in this city … it’s not an open market,” he said.

“We give you the biggest protection. You could have 10 more stores competing against you. You can’t have a store within 1,000 feet. You’re going to any other city, you don’t get that privilege.”

The motion carried unanimously. City staff will monitor the impacts of the bylaw over the next year and report back to councillors.