Public input sought on idea of allowing alcohol in parks
Cups might not be filled with just punch and lemonade at picnics in Calgary this summer.
The city wants to know how Calgarians feel about letting people drink alcohol in public parks.
On Thursday, it launched a public engagement survey to find out whether citizens would be in favour of the idea, as well as any concerns they have.
“If overall the response is positive, then we could potentially do a pilot this summer where we would have some picnic sites that you would be allowed to take alcohol,” said Laura Smith, a business and policy planner for Calgary Parks.
“Whether it’s going to be one park or every single picnic table in Calgary or none at all would be up to Calgarians.”
Smith said the idea came about last year during the city’s review of its parks and pathways bylaw.
The city received “a fairly significant number of comments, unsolicited” from people expressing a desire to drink in parks.
“We would be one of the first cities to do this,” she said.
But any potential pilot would come with conditions. If liquor consumption is allowed in parks, those partaking in a beverage or two would still have to abide by provincial laws that forbid public intoxication in parks.
The province’s Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act also states that in jurisdictions where alcohol consumption at parks is permitted, it must take place at a picnic site and be accompanied by food.
In Calgary, all drinking would have to take place at picnic tables, said Smith.
She noted the city has looked to Quebec, which allows alcohol consumption at parks with food.
“In that province, police officers are looking for a meal, so that’s not a bag of chips,” Smith said. “That might be up to the judgment of an enforcement officer.”
The potential pilot would run from July to August.
Smith said the City of Calgary is working with Calgary police and Alberta Health Services to prepare for possible issues requiring increased enforcement and cleanup if the plan moves forward.
Andrew Murie, CEO of MADD Canada, said the concept is no different than consumption of alcohol in any other public place, such as a pub or sporting event.
“I think you have to approach it (as), do you want alcohol or not? Basically it’s going to come back to communities to decide,” Murie said. “What we’ve learned with the driving piece is that as long as people treat it like if they’re going to a bar, if they ’re going some place and they’re going to be consuming, what’s their plan to get home? It doesn’t necessarily have to cause additional harms if they pre-plan.”
Murie said he hoped the city would reach out to MADD, which can help provide strategies to curb potential side-effects, such as an increase in impairment on the roads.
“The city also has to figure out, if they ’re going to do this and there’s problems, who’s going to enforce the bylaws?” he said.
“From a policing perspective … they don’t have any more resources to deal with this. If you download these issues to policing, they ’re not going to be able to respond. They have to think about that.”
Last fall, the city gave up on plans for public cannabis zones in parks after “significant opposition” from residents. The four proposed sites would have been exempted from the city’s ban on public use.
“We heard fairly clearly from Calgarians, they don’t want cannabis in parks and we are not reopening that,” added Smith.