In 1993, Alberta said a private liquor model would bring more choice and stable prices. Did it?

"The Alberta Liquor Control Board is no longer our spiritual leader," Calgary Herald columnist Don Martin declared in a Sept. 3, 1993, column.

Martin was reacting to news that the Alberta government would give up exclusive control over liquor, having regulated sales via the Alberta Liquor Control Board since prohibition ended in the province in 1924.

"It could be the best retail opportunity since the dawn of rental videos," Martin went on to say.

While shares of Blockbuster Video no longer hold the same appeal they once did, Alberta's 1993 venture into privatized booze has led to a dramatic reshaping of the liquor landscape. 

In recent weeks, as Ontario has been engaged in debate around the future of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), some in that province have turned their eyes to this other "Alberta model." 

Meanwhile, Alberta has been weighing the idea of expanding its access further, to potentially expand alcohol sales into grocery and convenience stores in the province.

The province's Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Ministry is currently reviewing the results of a MLA committee that recently met with grocers and liquor industry representatives.

"The results will be used to help inform how Alberta's fully private liquor model can continue to support the best interests of both businesses and Albertans," wrote Brandon Aboultaif, a press secretary to Minister Dale Nally, in a statement.

Alberta's move to privatize liquor retailing was the first such move in the country. In selling the plan, the Ralph Klein government argued it would deliver a larger selection of liquor, stable consumer prices and establish a new base of small businesses.

Did it deliver?

The results speak for themselves on the density front. Sixty-four per cent of Alberta's population now lives within one kilometre of a liquor store, according to a 2018 Statistics Canada report, the most recent data available. 

That's much higher than other provinces — British Columbia saw a 41 per cent figure, while the figure was listed as being below 30 per cent elsewhere in the country.

In 1993, there were a total of 803 liquor retailers in the province, selling a total of 2,200 products, according to the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC). 

At that time, pricing was set by the government and was consistent across all stores.