The federal government pitched a sizeable increase to the alcohol excise tax earlier this year — only to walk back that commitment in response to backlash from some MPs, lobby groups and cost-conscious Canadian drinkers.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget kept the annual tax increase much lower than inflation — it’ll grow by just 2 per cent this year — after a well-organized letter-writing campaign convinced the government that the political repercussions of such a hike weren’t worth the relatively modest revenue bump.
There was similar blowback when the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) recently issued new drinking guidelines that claimed no amount of alcohol is safe.
The recommendation prompted derision from some who said the health professionals behind the research are fun-averse teetotalers bent on needlessly worrying people about the risks of wine, beer and spirits. The government-funded data still hasn’t been posted publicly by Health Canada.
These incidents reveal just how deeply entrenched alcohol is in Canadian life — and how reluctant the government is to crack down on drinking.
“You know, alcohol is the favourite substance of many policymakers and indeed for a lot of us. It has sort of an iconic cultural status. Politicians — they don’t want to do much about it,” said Dr. Tim Naimi, the director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria.
“It’s the leading cause of preventable death in Canada. It’s the government’s job to protect Canadians from the tremendous harms caused by alcohol. For some reason, they feel threatened by the facts.”
At least one politician wants to do something to curb consumption.
Quebec Sen. Patrick Brazeau is a recovering alcoholic. His struggles with addiction have been well-documented.
Sober for three years, Brazeau now wants other Canadians to avoid the potentially life-altering effects of alcohol abuse.
“If you had told me 10 years ago I’d be sober and introducing a bill to label alcohol products, I would’ve told you you’re crazy,” Brazeau told CBC News. “I was drinking way too much because I was hurting inside. I was trying to kill the pain.”
Sen. Patrick Brazeau has introduced Bill S-254, which would mandate health labels on all alcohol bottles. (Olivier Hyland/CBC News)
Brazeau said alcohol is the only known carcinogen that comes without warning labels.
He’s introduced Bill S-254, which would mandate health labels on all alcohol bottles alerting consumers to the possibility of cancer.
Tobacco, vape and cannabis packages are already plastered with dire warnings, he said, and alcohol shouldn’t get a pass.
“There’s still a lot of taboo around alcohol — it’s so widely accepted in our society,” he said.
“But alcohol is not good for us and we have to stop pretending that it is. [It] doesn’t seem there are too many people on Parliament Hill, elected officials, who are willing to take the bull by the horns and do something.”
According to data collected by Naimi’s institute, about 25 per cent of Canadian drinkers have no idea that alcohol can cause seven fatal cancers.
Other jurisdictions have tried to publicize these risks.
Liquor labels, including one warning that alcohol can cause cancer, were placed on alcohol containers at a store in Yukon by researchers. (Supplied by Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research)
Researchers in Yukon placed warnings on liquor bottles in 2017.
The results were immediate — sales dropped by 6.6 per cent at a Whitehorse store as more consumers saw the prominently placed red labels. The project was scrapped amid pressure from some industry groups.
A spokesperson for Spirits Canada, a lobby group that represents the distilled spirits industry, did not respond to a request for comment on Brazeau’s bill. Beer Canada has said the industry can regulate itself.
A cash cow for governments
Governments depend on liquor sales to generate billions of dollars in revenue to fund public programs.
Drinkers — about 76 per cent of all Canadians consume alcohol in a given year — are understandably reluctant to pay more for a product that, statistics show, many regularly enjoy.
Some drinkers also bristle at the suggestion that moderate consumption is a problem, and defend alcohol as one of life’s little pleasures.
While much attention has been paid to the ongoing opioid epidemic — a tragic health event that has claimed the lives of thousands of Canadian drug users — publicly available data reveals there’s a parallel crisis underway.
Dr. Tim Naimi, the director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria, holds a can of corn. He says food packages contain nutritional information and alcohol bottles should be no different. (Michael Mcarthur/CBC News)
“The opioid epidemic is a massive public health problem, but we have a very serious problem with alcohol, too,” said Naimi.
“It’s just that alcohol has been with us for a long time. We’ve essentially learned to live with a high rate of problems from many, many years.”
Canada recorded 3,875 alcohol-induced deaths in 2021, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada — a 21 per cent increase over 2019 that likely was driven by a pandemic-related spike in consumption.
Other Canadian research suggests alcohol is even more deadly than those numbers suggest.
A peer-reviewed study published by the Public Health Agency of Canada suggests alcohol consumption in Canada is associated with approximately 15,000 preventable deaths (including 7,000 cancer deaths) and 90,000 preventable hospital admissions every year.
(Preventable deaths from alcohol are defined as alcohol-related cancers, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, unintentional injuries and violence.)
Those numbers closely track what’s been reported in the U.S., a country with a population almost ten times that of Canada. The United States reports about 140,000 alcohol-related deaths each year.
While the government has rolled out a suite of policy measures to curb opioid-related deaths — there are more safe-consumption sites now and naloxone kits are ubiquitous — it’s said comparatively little about what can be done to reduce alcohol-related death and disease.
Data shows that about 20 per cent of Canadians reported alcohol consumption that classified them as “heavy drinkers,” according to Statistics Canada.
The numbers are higher in Newfoundland and Labrador (27.7 per cent) and Quebec (21.2 per cent) and lower in Manitoba (16 per cent) and Ontario (17.3 per cent).
A pandemic-driven boom in alcohol-related deaths and disease has prompted health advocates to call for warning labels on alcohol bottles. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
Over the past decade, about 600,000 Canadians have become physically dependent on alcohol — a condition that can lead to injuries, violence, alcohol poisoning, risky sexual behaviour, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, cancer and mental health problems.
While alcohol is a cash cow for all levels of government, researchers say that profit is dwarfed by other costs.
The provincially owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the world’s largest alcohol importer, generated an annual dividend of roughly $2.4 billion in 2020-21.
I have 26 years left in the Senate so I’m in it for the long haul.– Sen. Patrick Brazeau
By comparison, the collective impact of alcohol use on health care, crime and lost productivity has been pegged at an estimated $22.4 billion a year — a figure higher than the costs of tobacco use and the costs of all other psychoactive substances combined, including opioids and cannabis — according to research by Naimi’s institute in Victoria.
“This is a big ticket item. Taxpayers are footing the bill for what amounts to … a subsidy on alcohol and heavy drinking in particular,” Naimi said.
A spokesperson for federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett said the government will “continue to monitor” Brazeau’s bill as it makes its way through Parliament.
As for the charge that it hasn’t done enough to curb problem drinking, the spokesperson said “alcohol use is a serious and complex public health and safety issue.”
Government won’t support bill, Brazeau says
The government is investing in programs to prevent alcohol use during pregnancy, funding substance use and addiction support programs, restricting alcohol content in some beverages and financing research, the spokesperson said.
Brazeau knows he’s facing an uphill battle.
In a meeting with Bennett, the minister told Brazeau the government likely won’t support his bill, he said.
He’s also routinely approached by lobbyists who are intent on killing the legislation, he added.
Brazeau said he’s getting some support from other senators to push the legislation to committee — but he’s not naive about the challenges that lay ahead in taking on such a popular vice.
“I have 26 years left in the Senate so I’m in it for the long haul,” he said.
Referring back to his now infamous boxing match with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Brazeau said, “I’m not afraid of getting in a fight or getting knocked around.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
