During the war, temperance movements acquired strong momentum across Canada as social reformers felt they should improve people’s lifestyles in order to provide men returning from the war with a more wholesome society than the one they had left to defend. Within these movements, alcohol was considered one of the most detrimental aspects of Canadian society, which was reflected in the widespread call for prohibition. Throughout July 1915, local newspapers were printing sympathetic reports about the progress made by prohibition campaigns in Ontario and on the prairies.
The latest news from Ontario regarding prohibition was the ratification of the Canada Temperance Act by the neighbouring county of Perth. All but three townships within the county had voted in favour of prohibition,a trend that was beginning the catch the eye of the Provincial Government. Meanwhile, a province-wide referendum in Alberta on July 22, 1915 overwhelmingly decided in favour of regulating the sale of alcohol, making it the last of the three prairie provinces to do so. The complete abolition of alcohol in Canada seemed to be just over the horizon.
Berlin Daily Telegraph July 10, 24 1915.
Waterloo Chronicle, July 1, 22 1915.
