The Fall of Emperor Pic

Men drinking at Retlaw Hotel, Retlaw, Alberta, 1914.

In February 1914 the Temperance and Moral Reform League of Alberta asked the Alberta provincial government to hold a plebiscite on Prohibition. The reason for this request was a desire on the part of the Temperance Moral Reform League and other provincial and national temperance groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to strike at the heart of what they considered to be the cause of the proliferation of social problems—alcohol abuse.

Indeed, at the time public drunkenness was common and it was estimated that liquor was, to some degree, involved in 90 percent of the cases before the police courts.¹ By getting rid of the liquor, these moral reformers reasoned, you would eliminate many of the evils plaguing society.

Poster used by the Women's Christian Temperance Union for prohibition campaigns.

Eight months later Premier Arthur Lewis Sifton moved that the question of Prohibition be put to the voters. A lively debate between those who sought to curtail the liquor trade and those who, for the most part, made their living from it ensued through newspaper advertisements, parades and speeches. However, when the all-male electors cast their ballots on July 21, 1915, a total of 58,295 of them were “dry” and a trailing 37,209 “wet”. Accordingly, on July 1, 1916 Prohibition was enacted in Alberta.²

The goal of the resulting Liquor Act was to outlaw the sale of

intoxicating beverages in the province. According to the Act, liquor (apart from that for medicinal, scientific or sacred purposes) could not be purchased and legal drinking establishments were closed. Businesses could, however, sell “Temperance Beer”, which under the conditions of the Act could contain only 2 ½ percent alcohol. If medicine, religion or science required intoxicating beverages, government vendors would meet the need.

As the Act curtailed only the selling of intoxicating beverages, the manufacture of liquor by a distiller or brewery was not affected. The Act also did not deem illegal the possession of alcoholic spirits in private residences, but instead limited each household to one quart of hard liquor and one gallon of malt libations at any one time.