This article covers various topics involving alcoholic drinks in Canada. The Government of Canada defines an alcoholic drink as "a beverage containing 1.1% or more alcohol by volume."[1]
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Further information: Alcohol in New France |
Canadian wine has been produced for over 200 years. Early settlers tried to cultivate Vitis vinifera grapes from Europe with limited success. They found it necessary to focus on the native species of Vitis labrusca and Vitis riparia along with various hybrids. However, the market was limited for such wines because of their peculiar taste which was often called "foxy". However, this became less apparent when the juice was made into Port- and Sherry-styled wines. In 1866, the first commercial winery opened in Canada, situated on Pelee Island in Ontario.[2]
During the first half of the twentieth century, the temperance movement and later consumer demand for fortified and sweet wines hampered the development of a quality table wine industry. Consumer demand did not shift from sweet and fortified wines to drier and lower alcohol table wines until the 1960s. At the same time, there were significant improvements in wine-making technology, access to better grape varieties and disease-resistant clones, and systematic research into viticulture.[citation needed]Beer was first introduced to Canada by European settlers in the seventeenth century, as Canada had an ideal climate for making beer before refrigeration was introduced. However, the preferred drink of the citizens of New France was imported wine or brandy. Although the first commercial brewery was built by Louis Prud'homme in Montreal (then Fort Ville-Marie) in 1650, it failed. Jean Talon, the first appointed Intendant of New France put limits on the amount of wine and spirits that could be imported and established the La brasserie de Roy in Quebec City, in the year 1668.[3] This brewery also failed after Talon returned to France in 1672 and import limits were increased.[4] What instead sprung up was the development of spruce beer, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.[5]
After the fall of New France, the numerous British soldiers in the Canadian British colonies in the eighteenth century was a benefit to breweries since the troops were each entitled to six pints of beer per day. Most preferred ales and other heavy beers, not lager.[6] Another important base of customers was the British Loyalists that immigrated from the newly independent United States to Canada.[7] During those centuries and into the nineteenth, a number of commercial brewers thrived, including some that became the staple of the Canadian industry: John Molson founded a brewery in Montreal in 1786, Alexander Keith in Halifax in 1820, Thomas Carling in London in 1840, John Kinder Labatt in 1847, also in London, Susannah Oland in Halifax in 1867, and Eugene O'Keefe in Toronto in 1891. The Upper Canada government issued a patent on July 6, 1842, to George Riley of Kingston, Upper Canada for "an improved method of brewing ale, beer, porter, and other malt liquors."[8] Molson's is the oldest surviving Canadian brewing enterprise.[9]Statistics Canada carries out surveys of alcoholic consumption in Canada, divided by territory/province.[12] Average values for the country in 2006 are given in the bottom row of the table.
| Wine | Rank | Beer | Rank | Spirits | Rank | Total | Rank↓ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yukon | 18.3 | 1 | 90.6 | 3 | 13.8 | 1 | 12.7 | 1 |
| Northwest Territories | 8.1 | 7 | 55.2 | 5 | 10.8 | 2 | 9.2 | 2 |
| Alberta | 13.9 | 4 | 89.8 | 4 | 7.6 | 9 | 8.6 | 3 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 6.5 | 11 | 93.3 | 2 | 7.3 | 10 | 8.0 | 4 |
| British Columbia | 14.5 | 3 | 76.6 | 12 | 9.0 | 7 | 7.8 | 5 |
| Ontario | 11.8 | 5 | 84.3 | 6 | 8.8 | 8 | 7.8 | 6 |
| Quebec | 17.4 | 2 | 93.9 | 1 | 4.1 | 12 | 7.8 | 7 |
| Prince Edward Island | 7.4 | 10 | 78.9 | 9 | 9.7 | 3 | 7.5 | 8 |
| Nova Scotia | 8.0 | 8 | 79.5 | 8 | 9.1 | 5 | 7.5 | 9 |
| Manitoba | 8.0 | 9 | 76.8 | 10 | 9.4 | 4 | 7.4 | 10 |
| Saskatchewan | 5.0 | 12 | 76.8 | 11 | 9.1 | 6 | 7.0 | 11 |
| New Brunswick | 8.4 | 6 | 79.8 | 7 | 6.8 | 11 | 6.7 | 12 |
| Nunavut | Data unavailable | |||||||
| Canada | 13.1 | 85.6 | 7.5 | 7.8 | ||||
| Values for wine, beer and spirits consumption are given in litres per person over 15, per annum. The total is expressed in litres of absolute alcohol. | ||||||||
Under the Constitution of Canada, responsibility for enacting laws and regulations regarding the sale and distribution of alcoholic drinks in Canada is the sole responsibility of the ten provinces. Canada's three territories have also been granted similar autonomy over these matters under the provisions of federal legislation.
This means that there is a separate agency (or agencies) in each province responsible for regulating the consumption of and, in all but one case, the sale of alcoholic drinks. Alberta is currently the only jurisdiction to have completely privatized its retail liquor industry (the AGLC maintains a monopoly over the wholesale distribution of wine, distilled spirits and imported beer — the distribution operation itself being contracted out to a private operator). Most of the other jurisdictions have maintained a total or near-total control over the sale of hard liquor while allowing limited privatisation of country-originated beer and wine sales.
In Canada, there is no federally defined age for legal alcohol purchase or consumption. Each province and territory is free to set its own drinking age. The legal age for purchase is:[13]
The selling hours of alcohol, both on and off-premises, are also appointed by provincial and territorial jurisdiction, as long as off-premises sale hours do not coincide with curfew hours. Many provinces and territories define the off-premises sale of hard liquor, either by alcohol volume or by quantities thereof, to be sold only within specific hours, which usually correspond to the opening hours of a given vendor. However, in some of them, it is also possible to derogate to the current norm upon applying for a distributor's licence, under certain circumstances. The on-premises sale is allowed at the discretion of the premise, with the hours being regulated by every province.
In general, most provinces have banned "tied houses" (bars that are affiliated with only one alcohol supplier), in favour of free houses which sell products from a variety of suppliers. A partial exception is made for brewpubs where a bar and brewery are on the same site.
The consumption of alcohol in public places is generally forbidden, regardless of the time (in a few provinces and territories this is still not enforced), unless a permit to do so is delivered by the responsible municipal authorities. In Quebec the consumption of drinks with low alcohol contents is permitted in public if accompanied by food. In all of the provinces and territories, the consumption of alcohol is forbidden while driving, with Ontario and Quebec also forbidding the possession of open non-empty containers within a motionless vehicle. Police in Canada are known to show considerable discretion to public consumption based on the amount of public disruption.