Prohibition Across Canada

While the Prohibition in Canada did not start until 1916, many towns in Canada up to this point had been “Dry Towns” (Towns where consumption of alcohol is illegal) Example: Gas Town Mill work in Vancouver led to a rise in population and laid the foundations for what would become BC’s biggest city While the area just outside Gastown had a large population of Mill Workers, the town was a “Dry Town” “Gassy” Jack Deighton was an entrepreneur who took advantage of this and paid men in alcohol to build him a bar right outside the mill town “Gas Town” would late grow to be one of the biggest communities in the young Vancouver and is still one of Vancouver’s most popular areas today Dry Towns in Canada

The Start of the Prohibition in Canada Unlike in the USA, the Prohibition in Canada started during the War as a type of rationing in 1916 (Aside from PEI where is started in 1901) While Canada was in charge of the production of liquor, the Provinces were responsible for banning the sale of liquor This dual level of control led to a complicated mess which lead to a failed system of prohibition The Start of the Prohibition in Canada

Prohibition in Canada was highly unpopular and laws were weakly enforced While the Ontario Temperance Act banned the sale of alcohol it never stopped being manufactured Importing alcohol into Ontario was not banned until 1921 (5 years after the prohibition began) While sales were banned, Doctors could still prescribe booze and by the end 815,000 prescriptions had been written in Ontario alone In Vancouver one doctor wrote 4100 prescriptions in one month for booze Terrible Legislation

Whereas some people got illegal prescription other people went to secret bars known as speakeasies Speakeasies were supplied by “wet provinces” (provinces like Quebec had gotten rid of prohibition within the first year) Other speakeasies were supplied by bootleggers who sold homemade moonshine created in isolate communities with proper agricultural requirements Bootlegging

Quebec repealed the law in 1919 and made huge profits off booze tourism British Columbia was the second province to repeal the laws in 1920 when it voted to become a Wet Province The Prairie countries followed and were all Wet Provinces by 1925 PEI was the last province to give up the Prohibition in 1948 Repealing the Laws

Today in the Text The Drug War in the USA The American Prohibition Florida and Fetenayl Today in the Text