Legal Drinking And Gambling Age In Canada

Legal Drinking And Gambling Age In Canada Immigration

The legal drinking age in Canada is not the same across the country; every province or territory comes up with its own rule book.

In Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, for example, residents can legally drink once they reach the age of 18; across the rest of Canada, you must be at least 19 years old to legally purchase alcohol.

The legal drinking age in Canada is not the same across the country; every province or territory comes up with its own rule book. In Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, for example, residents can legally drink once they reach the age of 18; across the rest of Canada, you must be at least 19 years old to legally purchase alcohol. The legal drinking age is 18, making Montreal's nightlife very accessible.

Those regulations have been in place since the 1970s, when all Canadian provinces and territories lowered the legal drinking age from 20 or 21 to either 18 or 19 to 'align more closely with the age of majority.'

Ontario and Saskatchewan initially lowered their legal drinking age to 18, but raised it to 19 years of age in the late 1970s after a spike in underage drinking. Prince Edward Island followed suit in 1987.

In this sense, there are two factors that governments weigh when choosing the legal drinking age: the age of majority, and the harmful effects of drinking.

The age of majority in Canada is 18, so provinces such as Alberta may have opted to make the legal drinking age 18 to coincide with the time that individuals are legally recognized as adults.

However, provinces also had to consider the harmful effects of alcohol, according to the Canadian Center for Substance Abuse (CCSA), provinces that have a higher drinking age reduce alcohol consumption in youth and lower traffic crashes.

A Canadian study in 2014 even found that if the drinking age were to be raised to 19 across all of Canada, approximately seven 18-year-old males would be prevented from dying each year.

In this sense, Ontario may have chosen to make the legal drinking age 19 in order to reduce alcohol-related fatalities.

More recently, Canadian provinces have also introduced different legal ages for cannabis consumption, ranging from 18 years of age in Alberta to 21 in Quebec as of October 2019.

You can't carry alcohol across a provincial border without permission from the provincial liquor board.
In Canada, there were around 77,000 hospitalizations entirely caused by alcohol in 2015–2016, compared to 75,000 hospitalizations for heart attacks in the same year.
Within Canada, over 70 percent of youth and young adults ages 15 to 24 reported using alcohol in 2018.

Legal Drinking Age In Canada

There is no national legal drinking age in Canada. Instead, rules around alcohol and drug consumption are done by each province individually - including setting a minimum drinking age.

In Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec, the legal drinking age is 18. But in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), Ontario, and the Yukon, the limit is 19 years of age.

According to the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse (CCSA), alcohol is the leading psychoactive substance used by youth and young adults (ages 15 to 24) in the country. In addition, the CCSA notes alcohol is the leading cause of mortality in youth and young adults (ages 10 to 24) worldwide.

With evidence of its effects on mental and physical development in adolescents, alcohol use among youth has been the source of much debate in Canada.

Changing The Legal Age

Some recommend the legal drinking age be bumped back to 21 country-wide, as it was before provinces lowered it in the 1970s, while others would be satisfied to see Alberta, Quebec, and Manitoba follow the lead of other provinces and make 19 the legal drinking age.

The 1970s move was made to align drinking ages with the age of majority (18 years), but Ontario and Saskatchewan were the first to raise limits to 19 years to combat a noticeable increase in alcohol consumption among high school students.

Other provinces followed suit, with P.E.I. being the last to move to a drinking age of 19 in 1987.

Issues Relating To Alcohol Consumption

Studies have shown as the minimum legal drinking age increases, instances of car crashes and alcohol consumption among youth decreases in turn. Based on the findings of the study, it is estimated if the drinking age was raised to be 19 across the country, about seven 18-year-old males would be prevented from death each year. If the limit was raised to age 21, it is estimated about 32 lives would be saved per year.

In another study, completed at the University of Northern B.C., evidence showed hospitalizations and injuries due to alcohol would reduce if the legal drinking age was moved to just 19 years old for all provinces. The results of the study revealed a 15 to 20% increase in the number of young people in the hospital at age 18 or 19, depending on the province.

Research shows instances of alcohol abuse, alcohol poisoning, and other related illnesses or issues due to consumption would decrease among youth if the legal drinking age was raised.