The legal drinking age in Canada is not the same in all parts of the country. It is the minimum age a person needs to be so they could be able to buy and consume alcohol. That age is 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Québec and 19 for the other parts of the country.
Legal Age for Drinking in Canada:
Alberta – 18 years old
British Columbia – 19 years old
Manitoba – 18 years old
New Brunswick – 19 years old
Newfoundland and Labrador – 19 years old
Northwest Territories – 19 years old
Nova Scotia – 19 years old
Nunavut – 19 years old
Ontario – 19 years old
Prince Edward Island – 19 years old
Québec – 18 years old
Saskatchewan – 19 years old
Yukon Territory – 19 years old
Overconsumption of Alcohol
The problems and risks of overconsumption of alcohol are getting higher each year, mostly among young adults aged 18-20. The Canada Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines was released in 2011 and was one of the first national guidelines. Canadians have been trying to reduce the consumption of alcohol across the whole country. They have done multiple types of research on the effects of alcohol on young people between the ages of 18/19–24. They found out that even moderate alcohol consumption can be extremely harmful and can cause some long-term issues. If you have problems with drinking, an alcohol monitoring system like Soberlink might help to keep you accountable.
The Effect of Laws
There was a study at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Faculty of Medicine in 2014. which proved that drinking-age laws in Canada have a big part in the level of youth mortality. Dr. Russell Callaghan, a UNBC Associate Professor of Psychiatry wrote a book “Drug and Alcohol Dependence” where he explained that young males who are just a few years older than the minimum drinking age are more likely to get harmed or pass away from injuries and motor vehicle accidents. “This evidence demonstrates that drinking-age legislation has a significant effect on reducing mortality among youth, especially young males,” added Dr. Callaghan. Some researches suggest that by changing the drinking age to 19 in Alberta, Manitoba, and Québec would reduce the number of 18-year-old male adults, and changing it to 21 would prevent more than 30 deaths of younger men every year.
“Many provinces, including British Columbia, are undertaking alcohol-policy reforms,” Dr. Callaghan added. “Our research shows that there are substantial social harms associated with youth drinking. These adverse consequences need to be carefully considered when we develop new provincial alcohol policies. I hope these results will help inform the public and policymakers in Canada about the serious costs associated with hazardous drinking among young people.”
The Impact of Higher Prices Of Alcohol
In order to reduce the consumption of alcoholic drinks, their prices had been increased by excising taxes and indexing prices to inflation. The CCSA suggests that inexpensive sources of alcohol should no longer be available because they are the ones that younger people favorize. Since alcohol is much cheaper in the United States, many people purchase it there and carry it to Canada.
