La Ronge council meets on July 12, 2017. MBC photo.

Despite a town council motion that supports, in principle, some big changes to how alcohol is served in La Ronge, one man involved says the proposal is very much up for debate.

“We’re not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes at all. It has to be a community-owned plan and without community backing it won’t be,” said Matt Klassen, who wears a lot of hats in La Ronge: he’s a town councillor, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and sits as a council member on the Community Alcohol Management Plan (CAMP) committee that’s putting forth 49 recommendations to change liquor rules in the northern town.

The suggestions, created by the Northern Alcohol Strategy (NAS) committee, aim to bring a five per cent levy to alcohol sales in the town and to close down liquor sales on month-end paydays, Canada Child Benefit paydays, statutory holidays, and Sundays while also reducing the overall hours of liquor sales. Among other things, they would promote safe transportation for intoxicated people and expand the responsibilities of those serving alcohol.

Klassen presented the recommendations on CAMP’s behalf at a town council meeting late last month and they were supported in principle by all except Mayor Ron Woytowich and Councillor Rex McPhail. In a social media post, Woytowich acknowledges the crime and abundant social issues that come with the massive per-capita liquor sales in La Ronge, as do many others on both sides of the debate. He also wrote “some of the items that are recommended are in my opinion out to lunch, but that’s just me.”

The approved motion, which Klassen seconded, says “the measures put forward will require further review and public consultation prior to adopting with specific respect to” two recommendations – the first to restrict hours of alcohol sales, the second to restrict minors from admission to alcohol-involved events “except in the case of a family occasion such as a wedding or anniversary.”

NAS’s proposal wasn’t widely seen until this week when Tania Colbert posted all 49 recommendations on social media, which she’d received in a letter sent to La Ronge business owners and SLGA reps inviting them to a Wednesday meeting in council chambers to discuss how the proposed changes could impact them. That meeting went ahead, and Klassen told MBC it “went quite well.”

“Initially they were somewhat upset with the recommendations because they thought they were being forced upon them right away. That’s truly not the case. We’re in a very draft stage of this plan and there’s definitely going to be a whole lot of consultation that has to happen,” he said.

In his view, public consultation already started more than a year ago when NAS’s full-time, government-funded employees sent out a survey to community members, seeking their thoughts on possible solutions to the alcohol-related harm that occurs in the La Ronge tri-community area.

Klassen said the proposal is getting mixed reactions when he talks to other community members but he’s confident the recommendations are the right way to go, saying they’re supported by NAS’s evidence-based research.

There will be a special chamber meeting on the topic next Tuesday, and NAS’s Carla Frohaug has also mentioned a town hall-type meeting taking place down the road.

Klassen said all recommendations can be edited from the draft that’s currently before council, and once any of those are approved by council, the NAS will make a business case to be sent for approval by the province.

MBC has reached out to Mayor Ron Woytowich for comment, but he has not yet responded.