The Rise and Fall of Canada’s Temperance Movement

Commentary Temperance activists from Victorian times to the interwar years strove to reduce or ban drinking in Canada, with mixed success. Any reader who follows the news will see reports from time to time of some new study about drinking less alcohol to reduce the risk to health and long life. The official guidance in Canada is to limit daily intake to one pint of beer, one glass of wine, or a gin and tonic—provided you sometimes skip a day. Of course, this is simply “advice” Canadians are free to ignore—and many do. In Canada, the movement to prohibit drinking alcohol peaked between Victorian times and World War I. It was led by small groups emerging from some Protestant congregations all across the country. In 1875, hundreds of them met in Canada’s metropolis of Montreal to establish a national movement. They called themselves the Dominion Prohibitory Council, changing their name a year later to the Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic....