The provincial liquor store in La Ronge will not be offering extended summer hours.
Typically, the store would be open Sunday from Victoria Day weekend to Labour Day. Yet SLGA spokesperson David Morris says the agency approached La Ronge town council about remaining closed over concerns about liquor consumption responsibility.
“During some discussions with town council we asked if it would be helpful to the community if we did not expand our hours during the upcoming summer months. Town Council agreed that SLGA not open on Sundays would support their liquor strategies,” Morris said. “The community is working on their alcohol strategy. It was something that they have identified that may help their community. If council believes that reducing hours for retailers in communities may make a difference to reduce some of the issues, then we’re supportive of that.”
La Ronge town councillor Matt Klassen is appreciative of the provincial government’s support of proposed restrictions on alcohol sales in the community.
“Representatives from SLGA had actually approached the town, approached the administrator, and asked essentially if the town would support if they decided not to open on Sundays throughout the summer months as they typically do,” Klassen said. “So, our council had decided that, yes, we would support that. All but one voting member thought that would be a good idea. Personally, I think it’s a very good sign, a good show of faith from SLGA representatives contributing towards the work that has been done in deterring alcohol-related issues in our community.”
Klassen says the town’s government-run liquor store had also been open on certain stat holidays during summer months in recent years, but that will no longer be the case.
“It’s pretty nice to see that they’re starting to roll that back and support some of the work that’s been done in reducing harms.”
However, Klassen says the larger proposal to close on certain days or times of the day still has to be decided.
“It is one of the options that has been weighed – closures on certain days or potentially limiting the hours on certain days,” he said.” “That’s one of the points that our council has yet to decide on. We’re actually just working as we speak, going through each of these points that were in that motion so that we can begin to draft bylaws to those effects. But we need to iron out a few details yet before we can move forward on that.”
He says town council has been receiving guidance from three government ministries on which options they can move forward on as a municipality, which ones aren’t feasible and which ones will need to be done in partnership with the province.
Of the dozens of proposed alcohol restrictions council voted in January to move forward with, Klassen says all but one is still alive. He says the chances of implementing a levy on the town’s alcohol sales are “probably pretty slim” and would have to be a province-wide initiative.
Klassen says council has to make a decision on each specific point of the motion they approved in January. Following that, the process would involve the drafting of business or property bylaws and internal policies, the involvement of legal counsel, the advertisement of and public meetings for proposed bylaw changes and three separate readings by council before any change could become a legitimate bylaw.
Klassen envisions multiple public meetings as the bylaws are brought forward.
That doesn’t include a public forum on the alcohol issue that is planned for May 29. An international addictions expert will be present at that meeting. Klassen is hoping for a good turnout, noting that members of the public still have the ability to sway town council on all of the proposed changes at that forum.
“Well, I think at each of our forums — or the public consultations or the surveys we’ve put out — each one of those instances or events most definitely hold some ground and could sway council one direction or the other,” he said.
Klassen also concedes it’s still possible that none of the proposed changes goes forward.
“Well, that is definitely possible, I suppose,” he said. “We would hope not. We hope that we could certainly do some change. There are drastic negative effects of alcohol in our community on many different fronts.”
(PHOTO: La Ronge town council. File photo.)