Try to Control Yourself: The Regulation of Public Drinking in Post-Prohibition Ontario, 1927-44 by Dan Malleck (review)

Like all perfectly-titled books, Dan Malleck’s Try to Control Yourself: The Regulation of Public Drinking in Post-Prohibition Ontario, 1927-44, summarizes his argument succinctly. In a nut, the end of Prohibition represented a new, more moderate phase in Ontario moral regulation, one in which the newly constructed “citizen-drinker” became a participant in a complex and highly bureaucratic negotiation between political power and the body.

From 1916 to 1927, there was a total prohibition on alcohol in Ontario and, as such, until repeal, there was no legal public drinking and no “citizen-drinker.” In Malleck’s view, this period was a legislative excess, since there was no room for negotiation. Repeal, therefore, represented the scaling back of excess and a move towards a more moderate approach. In turn, the 1927 Liquor Control Act requested that the “citizen-drinker” be moderate, too, unlike the pre-prohibition drinker, who has been characterized as intemperate. Malleck sees the 1927 LCA, which birthed the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, as evidence of “temperance” in government—a neat turn of phrase and concept that fits in well with his Foucauldian framework.

Since it’s tempting to begin a study of public drinking in Ontario in 1934 (when licensed beverage rooms were first allowed), Malleck’s choice to delve into the transition period from 1927 to 1934 is especially revelatory. Purchasing alcohol was legal, but only with an individual permit. Through this bureaucratic tool, which could be revoked at the discretion of the Liquor Control Board, consumption could be tracked and, to some degree, controlled. Individuals that held both Standard Hotel licenses and liquor permits produced the most anxiety for the Board, since they were in prime position to break the law and profit from semi-public drinking. Many hotel owners and employees were caught selling alcohol to guests who held parties in private rooms or, occasionally, in the public spaces of the hotel.

We might assume that the repercussions for violating the conditions of both licenses would be swift and harsh and that hoteliers risked losing their livelihood with every quick sale of liquor. Not so, says Malleck, whose research involved reading every LCBO Establishment File in six jurisdictions—Toronto, Ottawa, Niagara, Essex County, Waterloo County and Thunder Bay—and revealed a pattern of paternalism and leniency. One woman hotel-keeper caught selling liquor on New Year’s Eve 1929 was told to be a “good girl.”

So, although the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is often portrayed as a tight regulatory agency, the control was primarily in the form of documentation and light reprimands, as opposed to strict enforcement. This is a significant departure from previous work that has interpreted the LCBO as an agency of tight social control. Malleck shows how liquor control was, instead, about disciplining subjects.

From 1927 to 1934, pressure to allow beverage rooms in Ontario largely came from people who believed that making public drinking legal would give the economy a much-needed boost. Critics of the restrictive Liquor Control Act of 1927 argued that Ontario’s ban on bars and permit requirements made the province unattractive to American tourists, who were looking for a vacation from Prohibition. Four other provinces—British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec had more liberal public drinking laws and, as such, were more competitive tourist destinations. When America began seriously debating repeal of its federal prohibition on alcohol, Ontario opted to review its laws, too.

Of course, it’s unlikely that many post-Prohibition Americans would have been enticed by Ontario’s sorry beverage rooms, since the restrictions were myriad and designed to make it as likely as possible that Ontarians would control themselves. Where many American states opted to allow cocktails, live music and saloon-style stand-up bars, Ontario’s beverage rooms could only serve small glasses of beer to seated patrons. These conditions, in addition to advertising and signage...