Canada's national prohibition of beer lasted a little under two years, and it was put in place by an order in council during the First World War rather than by a single federal act passed in 1916. The order was made in March 1918 and took effect on the first of April, and it stopped the manufacture of intoxicating drinks, the sale of beer above a low strength threshold, and the movement of alcohol between provinces. It expired in 1920, and the way it was gamed, resisted and quietly repealed is the more interesting half of the story.
Three Provisions And The Loopholes They Left
- Three provisions did the damage, because the order stopped manufacture outright, capped imports at 2.5 percent alcohol, and banned interprovincial trade.
- The import cap created the widest gap, because breweries reformulated to sit under 2.5 percent while medicinal and sacramental sales stayed legal under the older act.
- The border leaked freely, because American breweries were untouched and rum-running ran out of Windsor, Ontario, while interprovincial trade carried on regardless.
- The order simply lapsed in 1920 rather than being repealed, and provinces set their own timetables, with Prince Edward Island staying dry until 1948.
What The Federal Order Actually Did
The order made in March 1918, effective the first of April, is often described as Canada's only national prohibition of the manufacture, distribution and consumption of alcohol. Three of its provisions matter. It prohibited the manufacture of intoxicating drinks outright, so breweries could not simply keep making beer. It prohibited the importation into Canada of any drink containing more than 2.5 percent alcohol, which was aimed at the big international breweries on the American border. And it prohibited interprovincial trade in alcohol, so a wet province could not legally supply a dry one. Every brewery in the country was affected by that first provision, because there was no low-strength exception attached to making beer.
The Provinces Had Been First
The federal order did not start Canadian prohibition, it landed in the middle of it. Provinces and municipalities had been closing their own bars for decades through the local option system, and the tally is stark. Between 1878 and 1928, provincial and federal prohibition efforts closed nearly three-quarters of Canadian breweries. British Columbia had already enacted provincial prohibition in 1917, the year before the federal order, and Ontario's Temperance Act was in force from 1916 through 1927. So when the federal order arrived, much of the country had already gone dry, and the federal move hardened lines that local votes had drawn.
The Loopholes People Found
The 2.5 percent import threshold created the largest gap. Because the import ban applied only above 2.5 percent alcohol, very low strength drinks fell outside it, and breweries quickly reformulated what they made to sit under the line. There was also a longer legal tradition of exceptions to lean on, since medicinal and sacramental sales had stayed legal in Canada under the older Canada Temperance Act of 1878, and doctors and churches continued to supply alcohol where the law allowed it. On top of that, the borders leaked. Breweries in the United States were untouched by the Canadian order, so illicit alcohol crossed the border easily, and there was rum-running out of Windsor, Ontario, while the trade that the interprovincial ban was meant to stop went on regardless.
The breweries that survived the two years did it by making what they legally could and by serving whatever demand was left. Ontario wineries were a useful contrast, because Ontario-made wine stayed legal and some wineries stayed open to serve the export market while nearby breweries and distilleries shut or pivoted. The industries that remained open were the ones with an export or medicinal excuse. Everything else went quiet, and the small breweries that could not pivot were among the many lost in the wider prohibition collapse that had already been closing three-quarters of the industry for fifty years.
How It Ended
The order expired in 1920, one year after the war, and it is worth being precise that it lapsed rather than being repealed by a later parliament. Most of the provinces had already repealed their own prohibition by then, and British Columbia, which had been dry since 1917, repealed in 1921. The country did not return to normal drinking overnight. Prince Edward Island held on to prohibition from 1901 all the way to 1948, and Alberta replaced prohibition with government store sales in 1924 rather than simply reopening the bars. The immediate effect of the federal order's expiry was that breweries could once again legally make and sell beer, and the breweries that were left found themselves selling into a province-run market rather than a free one.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did prohibition start in Canada?
Nationally, it started on the first of April 1918, under an order in council made in March of that year. That federal measure is the short national ban, running to 1920. It did not begin Canadian prohibition, though, because provinces and towns had been voting themselves dry since the 1860s, and British Columbia had already enacted provincial prohibition in 1917. So the honest answer depends on whether you mean the short federal war years or the decades of local and provincial bans that came before and after.
How long did prohibition last in Canada?
It depends on where you are. The national prohibition under the order in council lasted from the first of April 1918 to 1920. But some provinces went much longer, and Prince Edward Island held prohibition from 1901 to 1948. Across the country the range runs from a couple of years for the federal war measure to more than four decades for one province, and that spread is the reason prohibition in Canada is usually described as a patchwork rather than a single national episode.
Could you still drink beer during prohibition in Canada?
Legally, no, not ordinary beer. The manufacture of intoxicating drinks was prohibited outright, so a brewery could not simply keep making full-strength beer. In practice the rules were widely worked around. Very low strength drinks under about 2.5 percent fell below the import ban, medicinal and sacramental sales stayed legal under the older Canada Temperance Act, and alcohol was smuggled across the American border. The gap between the law and what people actually drank is the central fact about prohibition in Canada.
What The Quiet Years Left Behind
The most lasting consequence of the prohibition years is not the federal order itself, which lasted barely two years, but what it did to the brewing industry. Nearly three-quarters of Canadian breweries closed between 1878 and 1928, and the war prohibition was part of that squeeze rather than an isolated blip. When beer came back, it came back through provincial liquor boards that controlled distribution, and it came back to a small number of very large regional breweries. The long prohibition is the reason Canadian beer today is dominated by a handful of names, and it is the reason the province you live in still buys and sells your beer rather than the pub.
