The Town of Cardston has approved an amendment that will allow for liquor licenses to be issued to select businesses, September 13, 2023. (Photo: Wisconsinart | Dreamstime.com)

By David Opinko

Alberta

Town of Cardston to allow liquor licenses for some businesses

Sep 13, 2023 | 2:12 PM

CARDSTON, AB – For the first time in 121 years, Cardston will not be a dry community.

Town council voted 5-2 on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, to allow for liquor licenses to be issued to restaurants and recreational facilities such as golf courses. Liquor stores will still be prohibited.

The council meeting included a public hearing, which saw many residents speak out in favour of and in opposition to allowing alcohol sales in the community.

Melvin Easthope with the Golf Clubhouse Sub Committee told council that if they checked the garbage bins around the Lee Creek Valley Golf Course, they would know that people are already consuming alcohol in Cardston.

By permitting liquor licenses, however, he argued that staff would be better equipped to control the flow of alcohol and would be able to generate more revenue.

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Speaking on the current alcohol prohibition, Easthope said, “I believe that we are pushing people away rather than bringing people in together. Discrimination is the wrong word, but it’s similar. We’re pushing them away. We’re saying, ‘If you want to have a beverage while you have dinner, you’re not welcome here.’”

Representing the Cardston Chamber of Commerce, Shelley Oullette said she was also in favour of approving the Land Use Bylaw Amendment 1674K – Liquor Licensing.

A referendum that was held during the 2023 Alberta provincial election showed that 53 per cent of residents were in favour of liquor licenses while 47 per cent were opposed. Among business owners in the community, Oullette reports that nearly 80 per cent were on board with the change.

Council also heard from a few residents who wanted to keep Cardston alcohol-free.

David Innes said he was “strongly opposed” to permitting liquor licenses.

“I see no economic benefit for such a move,” said Innes. “To me, changing the Land Use Bylaw has no economic benefit as we have not seen the results of any type of a study or anything, and it’s the top of a very slippery downhill slope – one that will change the face of our community forever, one way or another.”

Elaine Petegrass made a statement on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“I think we need to remember that there is a cost involved in people who drink, and sometimes, it’s a very big cost, depending on the value you give to a human life,” said Petegrass. “I think we need to keep that in mind and we need to realize that we don’t want to decrease our ability to control the drinking that other people do when it’s our children that’re going to be killed in an accident.”

The Town of Cardston has not allowed alcohol sales since 1902.

The sale of alcohol in select Alberta communities was prohibited on July 21, 1915, and remained in effect until the passing of Bill 2: “Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Amendment Act” on July 18, 2019. The Act repealed all remaining prohibitions on alcohol sales, although some communities like Cardston became known as municipalities without licensed premises.

According to the 2021 federal census, 2,090 people in Cardston, or 61.8 per cent, identified as being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. People of the faith are taught to not consume any type of alcohol.