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1923 Alberta prohibition plebiscite

The 1923 Alberta prohibition plebiscite, held on November 5, 1923, was a province-wide plebiscite held in Alberta, Canada, to allow alcoholic beverages. It was triggered by an affirmative vote in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta after the presentation of a 56,000-name petition. The Direct Legislation Act (1913), a citizens referendum law or initiative law, was in force at the time.

{{anchor|The Prohibition Committee|Moderation League of Alberta}}Campaign
The writs were issued to Alberta's 52 electoral districts (under the 1921 boundaries) on October 9, 1923. Four options were presented to votes and voting was by instant-runoff voting, as favored by the United Farmers government. Voters ranked up to four of the options given. The leadership of the prohibitionist Methodist Church (soon to be part of the United Church) advised its worshippers to plump (mark just one choice) for prohibition. About half the ballots cast had no secondary preferences marked. In the event, one option, government sale of liquor and private taverns selling beer, took a majority of votes on the first count, and so no additional rounds of counting had to be conducted. The Prohibition Committee was a campaign committee set up for the plebiscite to campaign for Option A, the option to continue the Liquor Act as it was before the plebiscite. The Prohibitionists had a seven-point platform. Point one encouraged voters to respect the laws already on the books. Point two stated that every constitutional method should be used to enact a change in law when the majority of voters desired a change. Points three, four, and five focused on highlighting harm done by alcohol to the fabric of the community and contended that society is incumbent upon itself to ban such harm. Point six encouraged the crackdown and banning of liquor distilling in Alberta and its exportation outside the province. Point seven supported the committee's satisfaction with the Liquor Act in force to that point. The committee believed that the current legislation was the means to the end and allowed for efforts to be sustained until total prohibition was achieved. The Moderation League of Alberta was the committee campaigning for Option D, the end of prohibition and its replacement by government control of the sale of booze and sale of beer in licensed premises. ==Results==
Results
(d) won a clear majority on the first ballot. No extra count was required as instant-runoff voting resorts to if needed. In Edmonton, a clear majority favored option D. Clause A came in second, with options B and C receiving few votes. In Calgary, 15,586 voters favoured option D, while option A received just 7900 votes, with less than 600 votes cast for options B and C. == References ==
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