The Quebec referendum on the prohibition of alcohol, held on April 10, 1919, considered the legalization of the sale of beer,

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

and wine in the province of Quebec, Canada. The 'yes' side won with 78.62% of the votes.

The question asked

The question asked in English on the ballot paper was: "Should sale of light beer, cider and wines be allowed?" In French, the question was: "Êtes-vous d'opinion que la vente des bières, cidres et vins légers, tels que définis par la loi, devrait être permise?"https://books.google.com/books?id=QxO3pyvw7k0C, p. 136

The results of the vote

178,112 persons (78.62%) voted in favour of the proposal, while 48,433 (21.38%) voted against; proposal was therefore passed with a majority of 129,679 votes. The analysis of the vote by riding reveals that all voted in favour except for seven: Pontiac,

Compton Compton may refer to: Places Canada * Compton (electoral district), a former Quebec federal electoral district * Compton (provincial electoral district), a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton * Compton, Que ...

, Dorchester, Huntingdon, Brome, Stanstead and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. The result of the vote was that the subsequent prohibition law which became effective on May 1, 1919 only applied to spirits. The victory of the "moderate" prohibitionists over the "radicals" did not have immediate repercussion on the legal sale of alcohol for in 1919, 90% of Quebec municipalities were prohibiting its sale locally. Indeed, Trois-Rivières, Lévis, Lachine, Sainte-Agathe,

Louiseville Louiseville is a town in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. It is located near the mouth of the 'Rivière-du-Loup', on the north shore of Lac Saint-Pierre. Louiseville is twinned with Soissons in France and Cerfontaine in ...

, Sainte-Rose and Terrebonne had voted for local prohibition in 1915, while Quebec City had done the same on October 4, 1917. All these regulations had to be rescinded, one municipality at a time. Prohibition was finally abolished on May 1, 1921 when the ''Alcoholic Beverages Act'' creating the Commission des liqueurs du Québec entered into force.Ville de Montréal - Centre d’histoire de Montréal - Alcool
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Notes

References

* Lacoursière, Jacques (1997). ''Histoire populaire du Québec. Tome 4'', Sillery: Septentrion ()
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* Prévost, Robert, Suzanne Gagné and Michel Phaneuf (1986). ''L'histoire de l'alcool au Québec'', Montréal: Société des alcools du Québec, 239 p. ()

The question asked

The results of the vote

Notes

References

See also