Yorkton Council is looking at the province to maintain the status quo in terms of Alcohol Control Regulations.
"The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) have asked the City of Yorkton for feedback on potential changes to "The Alcohol Control Regulations"," explained Fire Protective Services Chief Dean Clark at the regular meeting of Council Monday.
"One of the items that this Regulation identifies is the hours during which alcohol may be legally sold at permitted premises. Currently the province has set these hours from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. the following day."
The exact hours of operation could be left to individual municipalities, offered Clark.
"The provincial government is considering changing the Act so that individual municipalities would have the ability through a municipal bylaw to establish new operating hours for permitted premises. This would allow the municipality to establish hours of operation that are either more or less restrictive than those already established by the Province. If a municipality does not act on this then obviously then provincially established hours would continue to apply," he said.
Clark noted there have been concerns with the proposed changes.
"The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) have expressed concerns with this proposal as they believe that this should not be the responsibility of local government as it may make councils susceptible to lobbying by owners of permitted establishments to alter the hours of operation," he said.
Clark said he has also discussed the changes with the local RCMP detachment, adding their Staff Sergeant "has informed me that they operate twenty-four hours a day and that this will not likely have a negative impact on their operation if the hours of consumption remain the same."
However, should the hours of consumption be extended then there may be a potential to impact the City RCMP, he added.
The matter was also reviewed by the City's Protective Service Committee.
"The Committee is of the opinion that not only should the Province maintain control of the hours of operation of permitted premises as well that those hours of operation should remain the same," said Clark.
Councillor Ross Fisher said the Committee had concerns about public safety if neighbouring communities had varying hours of operation which could put more impaired drivers on the road going from one centre to another. He said rather than establishing a system where municipalities are "vying against each other to attract people to the bars," a single mandated set of regulations from the province was needed.
The recommendation before Council was "that the hours of operation established by the Province, during which alcohol may be legally sold remain the same as it is currently legislated and that the Province continues to maintain and control the hours of operation for alcohol sales."
It passed unanimously.
