The Alberta government has ordered the immediate reversal of recent increases to minimum alcohol prices at bars and restaurants, less than two weeks after the changes took effect and amid an ongoing dispute with the City of Calgary over its festival tent noise rules.<\/p>\n
Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) earlier this month announced it would be increasing the minimum prices for alcohol sold at licensed establishments. The changes, which took effect June 9, included increasing the minimum price for draft beer to $0.25 per ounce from $0.16, putting the lowest legal price of a 20-ounce pint of beer in the province at $5, up from $3.20.<\/p>\n
Dale Nally, Alberta\u2019s minister of service and red tape reduction, said Monday the province directed the AGLC to reverse the changes immediately to provide businesses and consumers with \u201cgreater certainty and consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlberta\u2019s government is proud to support our hospitality and liquor industry as they create jobs, attract visitors and deliver memorable experiences for Albertans and tourists alike,\u201d Nally said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Nally tied the reversal to the province\u2019s ongoing criticism of Calgary\u2019s changes to its noise bylaws affecting festival tents in and around downtown during Stampede.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would encourage the City of Calgary to take the same approach by working with industry and local businesses to find solutions that support jobs, tourism and the Stampede music scene, including repealing its misguided noise bylaw,\u201d Nally said.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
With fewer than two weeks until the Calgary Stampede, Mayor Jeromy Farkas and Premier Danielle Smith traded jabs over the weekend about who was making it harder for Albertans to enjoy themselves, as the debate over festival tent noise rules spilled into criticism of the province\u2019s changes to minimum on-site liquor prices.<\/p>\n
Farkas took aim at the province Sunday over the AGLC changes that raised minimum drink prices at bars and restaurants, arguing the move would hurt local businesses ahead of their busiest season.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks like the fun police have struck again in Alberta, this time targeting people trying to enjoy a pint,\u201d Farkas wrote on social media. \u201cThis last minute hike before Stampede will raise the minimum price of a beer from $3.20 to $5, a 60 (per cent) increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe provincial government will negatively affect thousands of workers and create additional problems for bars and restaurants already facing higher costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s comments appeared to be a response to criticism city hall has faced over its noise rules, with language closely mirroring remarks made by Smith a day earlier.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the premier weighed in on Calgary\u2019s Stampede tent noise debate, criticizing the city\u2019s handling of regulations affecting the venues.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks like the fun police have struck again in Calgary, this time targeting the Calgary Stampede music scene,\u201d Smith wrote in a post on X Saturday, while sharing a column written by Penny Lane Entertainment CEO Paul Vickers that was published by Postmedia on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy reducing allowable noise levels and shutting shows down early on weeknights, the city will negatively affect hundreds of workers and create additional public safety and crowd-management problems due to guests leaving in a shorter time frame.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the reversal, the AGLC\u2019s senior manager of communications, Karin Campbell, said the increases followed a review of the agency\u2019s liquor policies and marked the first adjustment to minimum drink prices since they were introduced nearly two decades ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile raising minimum prices acknowledge rising costs and inflation to support industry, the change also reinforces AGLC\u2019s social responsibility commitment to reducing alcohol-related harms by encouraging moderation and discouraging binge drinking behaviours,\u201d Campbell said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Catch up with the day\u2019s headlines, curated by our editors and delivered to your email inbox at lunchtime on every business day. Sign up now for the Calgary Herald Noon News Roundup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Alberta government has ordered the immediate reversal of recent increases to minimum alcohol prices at bars and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[27450,34435,12683,36319,51,15809,36293,3178,1812,36317,36294,36320,36318],"class_list":["post-99363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-aglc","tag-alberta-gaming","tag-alberta-government","tag-bars-and-restaurants","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-stampede","tag-dale-nally","tag-danielle-smith","tag-jeromy-farkas","tag-liquor-prices","tag-minimum-price","tag-minimum-prices","tag-noise-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}