Restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs and nightclubs
Mandatory restriction - Effective Sept 4 at 8 am
Alcohol service must end at 10 p.m. in all licensed establishments.

Except for 3 rodeos

It has been officially mandated, on the Saturday of the long weekend, that all venues in Alberta are to stop serving alcohol by 10pm. How this mandate was decided and determined was not fully explained. However, that announcement included 3 event exemptions, being rodeos, even stating that masks are not mandatory there either. 
These exemptions bring up several unanswered questions and has sparked frustration throughout the province. No one is offering venues options or exceptions and the already struggling industry is grasping at every opportunity to stay afloat, which has been a constant battle not only against the pandemic but the force of unreasonable government mandates, with rodeos consistently seeming to gain favouritism.

The benefits of venues continuing to run their businesses on usual hours of alcohol consumption include:

• Supporting businesses that suffered greatly through the pandemic. The entertainment industry was the first to close and is still facing many issues with opening. They also provide many jobs that will be affected by these unreasonable restrictions.
• Venues are controlled environments where social distancing, plexi-glass barriers, masks and other mandates can be fulfilled. 
• By ending alcohol consumption so early, people will be encouraged to either drink much faster, creating unhealthy situations and environments and/or continue their night out in a more private environment such as homes and backyards, where COVID mandates may not be enforced.

We need the Alberta government to reconsider these restrictions and understand the repercussions that not only the public will be facing with them but also how an entire industry is facing its demise and destruction with a lack of economic recognition and consideration.