Liquor legislation introduced in Sask., but likely won’t pass

The Saskatchewan government is looking to give municipalities power over whether people can crack a beer in the park, while the Saskatchewan NDP is telling the government to pump the brakes.

On Monday, the government introduced amendments to the liquor laws that would allow municipalities and park authorities in the province to decide for themselves whether to allow consumption of alcohol in public outdoor places like parks.

Jim Reiter, the minister responsible for the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA), said the idea was talked about a bit last summer by the Opposition NDP and in the media, and this winter, Saskatoon’s city council passed a motion to ask for just such powers. So, Reiter said the government started working on it over the winter.

The amendments wouldn’t allow alcohol consumption outright, but would just allow a municipality to make its own decision.

“It’s not mandatory for a municipality. Those who would like to do it can certainly do it (and) those who don’t can stay with the status quo,” said Reiter.

Reiter said if there’s a municipality with concerns, it doesn’t need to make any changes. But if one feels it has the facilities in the park and policing power to deal with it, then it would be able to.

“I would imagine many municipalities probably aren’t overly concerned about this. I don’t think it’s a front-of-mind thing for them. The City of Saskatoon asked for it and those that want to do it, certainly (this) could give them the opportunity,” said Reiter.

In a case like Wascana Park in Regina, which has its own governing authority, Reiter said that authority and the City of Regina would have to make a decision together on whether to allow alcohol consumption.

The amendments were introduced Monday and if they got unanimous approval in the legislature, then they could be passed immediately. Reiter said in that case, he would ask the SLGA to expedite things so municipalities who wanted it could take advantage for the coming summer.

However, it doesn’t appear the amendments are going to get fast-tracked.

“If they really saw this as a priority for this summer, if they really wanted to have this as an option available to municipalities, they should have introduced this weeks ago rather than the last three days we have to debate legislation (before the end of the session),” said Nicole Sarauer, the NDP’s critic for the SLGA.

Sarauer said the NDP won’t support the changes without proper consultation and that proper consultation won’t be able to happen before the amendments come up for a vote.

When the NDP “kicked the tires” on this idea last summer, Sarauer said it heard strong opinions on both sides. So she said the NDP wants to go out and talk to people, to businesses and to other jurisdictions in Canada that have already had something like this to see how it has gone.

“We think that that (discussion) process should run its course and that those sorts of debates should happen on the legislative floor,” said Sarauer.

Sarauer pointed to concerns about addictions issues in the province as a potential reason not to pass the changes.

If the amendments don’t get unanimous approval before the end of the sitting and the current legislative session on Thursday, Reiter said the government will just introduce them again next fall and the changes would be ready to go for summer 2023.