Canada Temperance Act
The Canada Temperance Act, also known as the Scott Act, was an Act of the Parliament of Canada passed in 1878, which provided for a national framework for municipalities to opt in by plebiscite to a scheme of prohibition. It was repealed in 1984.
Legislative history
Pre-Confederation colonial legislation
legislation of general application had been enacted by the various colonies as early as 1855, when New Brunswick implemented total prohibition to mixed success. Others, beginning with the Province of Canada on passage of the Dunkin Act in 1864, opted to allow local municipalities to implement temperance upon an approval by plebiscite.Post-Confederation
The provinces continued to enact temperance legislation after the establishment of Canadian Confederation in 1867. Ontario passed the Crooks Act in 1876 to provide for the limiting of licences granted by municipal councils in areas not otherwise subject to the Dunkin Act. The Parliament of Canada shortly followed afterwards with the passage of the Scott Act, which offered local option within a national scheme, followed in 1883 by the McCarthy Act and its national licensing system.In 1917, provision was made to suspend the operation of the Act where provincial temperance legislation was determined to be as restrictive in application.
Application of Act
The Act was brought into effect in 17 municipalities:| Province | Year | Area |
| 1879 | Albert County | |
| 1879 | Carleton County | |
| 1879 | Kings County | |
| 1879 | Queens County | |
| 1879 | York County | |
| 1880 | Northumberland County | |
| 1880 | Westmorland County | |
| 1880 | Electoral District of Marquette | |
| 1881 | Electoral District of Lisgar | |
| 1881 | Digby | |
| 1884 | Yarmouth | |
| 1885 | Guysborough | |
| 1913 | Thetford Mines | |
| 1913 | District of Manitoulin | |
| 1914 | Huron County | |
| 1914 | Perth County | |
| 1915 | Peel County |
Legal controversy
The Act was the subject of several constitutional challenges, many of which were of major importance in developing the jurisprudence underlying Canadian federalism:When prohibition in Ontario was relaxed in 1927, a reference question to the Supreme Court of Canada resulted in the 1935 finding that the 1917 determinations no longer applied in the counties of Perth, Huron and Peel. A subsequent reference question by the Province of Ontario resulted in a declaration that the Canada Temperance Act was unconstitutional, but this was subsequently reversed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1946 in Ontario v. Canada Temperance Federation. Manitoulin and Peel would later hold plebiscites that revoked the application of the Act in December 1951, while Huron and Perththe last jurisdictions where the Act applied in Canada would not do so until November 1959.