Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation

Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) and Community of Practice
A graphic of a map of Canada with various grades on it
The Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) 3.0 results by province and territory.

The Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) is an ongoing research project that provides rigorous assessments of the existence of evidence-based provincial, territorial, and federal alcohol policies in Canada to reduce harm from alcohol use.

Policy domains include pricing and taxation, physical availability, alcohol control system, impaired driving countermeasures, marketing and advertising controls, minimum legal age, health and safety messaging, liquor law enforcement, screening and treatment interventions, alcohol strategy, and monitoring and reporting.

CAPE has a track record of strengthening Canada’s response to alcohol-related harm. The project was initially developed and implemented in 2013 (CAPE 1.0), then updated, refined, and expanded in 2019 (CAPE 2.0). CAPE 3.0 launched in 2022 along with the national alcohol policy community of practice. Results for CAPE 3.0 were released in May 2023. To request a tailored presentation for your jurisdiction, please complete this request form. 

CAPE 3.0 Results and Resources    

French versions of documents not already provided below are available upon request

Federal Results

Provincial Territorial (P/T) Results

Infographics by Policy Domain (P/T)

Project Documents   

Presentations

Media Releases and Coverage

Journal Articles/Academic Publications

CAPE 2.0

Federal 

Provincial/Territorial   

Individual Provinces/Territories

Infographics 

Presentations

Media Releases and Coverage

Journal Articles/Academic Publications 

CAPE 1.0

Provincial/Territorial 
Individual Provinces/Territories

Media Releases and Coverage

Journal Articles/Academic Publications 

Webinar Recordings, Slides, and Summaries

These webinars and events are offered as part of the CAPE Community of Practice.

To sign up, please fill out this short membership form. Pour vous inscrire, veuillez remplir ce court formulaire.

If you have any questions about the CAPE CoP, please contact the coordinators directly at

Launch of CAPE 3.0 and CoP

January 19, 2022: This public launch event featured an overview of CAPE research, an update on alcohol policy changes in Canada, a look ahead at CAPE 3.0 and introduced the CAPE Community of Practice (CoP).

 

Alcohol Warning Labels: Informing Canadian Consumers

March 16, 2022: This webinar featured experts in Canada and beyond presenting current initiatives and lessons learned regarding implementing alcohol warning labels, legal considerations for Canadian jurisdictions, and discussion of potential next steps. 

 

Alcohol Warning Labels (AWLs) Roundtables

Roundtables are not recorded. High level discussion summaries are available upon request from 

Les tables rondes ne sont pas enregistrées. Des sommaires de discussion de haut niveau sont accessibles sur demande à l'adresse suivante: 

March 30, 2022: AWLs Roundtable: Exploring the Legal Issues. 
An exploration of the legal issues and considerations around implementation of warning labels in Canadian jurisdictions.

April 13, 2022: AWLs Roundtable: Advocacy Approaches - Australian Perspective
Team members from the Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education (FARE) in Australia provided an overview of the process of developing pregnancy warning labels in Australia and the advocacy approaches used to support their implementation in 2020.

May 4, 2022: AWLs Roundtable: Advocacy Approaches - Canadian Perspective
An exploration of advocacy approaches to support the implementation of alcohol warning labels in Canada.

 

Overt and Covert Alcohol Industry Activities: Navigating the Canadian Landscape

June 8, 2022: This webinar explored how health promotion intersects with private alcohol interests. Alcohol companies employ a range of strategies that contribute to the normalization of alcohol including actively promoting their product through marketing as well as undermining evidence-based alcohol health information through alcohol industry corporate social responsibility (CSR) bodies. Presenters from the UK and Canada provided an overview of how industry CSR bodies operate and highlighted some specific examples of alcohol marketing and CSR activities in the Canadian context.

 

Alcohol Strategies and Action Plans in Canada: Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges

September 28, 2022: This webinar explored the process and progress of alcohol strategies and action plans in Canada. Several Canadian jurisdictions have strategies or action plans under development, active or on-the-shelf. Presenters and panelists discussed their experiences in relation to planning, development, implementation and review of strategies and actions plans, highlighting the challenges and opportunities at the regional, provincial/territorial, and federal levels.

 

The basics of alcohol pricing and taxation mechanisms: minimum unit pricing, excise tax, sales tax, and markups

November 30, 2022: Raising prices on alcohol through taxes and pricing policies remains one of the most cost-effective interventions to reduce alcohol related harm. It can also be challenging to understand! This webinar explored the fundamentals of alcohol pricing and taxation policies: what they are and why they are important including key concepts and terminology such as minimum unit pricing, excise tax, sales tax and markups.  

 

Updated alcohol drinking guidance in Canada: key messages and next steps

February 1, 2023: An overview of the newly released and updated alcohol drinking guidance (replacing Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines). Presenters discussed the development of the new guidance, key messages, and next steps for raising awareness among Canadians. 

This session was not recorded. 

 

Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms (CSUCH) project: Latest findings

April 19, 2023: Substance use cost the Canadian economy $49.1 billion in 2020, with alcohol accounting for more than 40% of this cost. This webinar presented the latest findings of the Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms (CSUCH) project including costs in terms of lost productivity, healthcare, criminal justice and other direct costs. This session covered all substances with a special focus on alcohol.  

 

Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) 3.0: Results release webinar

May 17, 2023: CAPE results provide updated information about the degree to which federal, provincial, and territorial governments in Canada are implementing policies proven to reduce harm from alcohol use. This webinar covered project rationale, methods and presented results from key alcohol policy domains with specific examples and comparisons of policies currently in place in various jurisdictions. Recommendations for strengthening Canada’s policy response to alcohol harms were also provided.

Promising policies to address alcohol harms in Quebec

October 4, 2023: This webinar explored alcohol policies in Quebec, particularly in relation to labelling, sponsorship and advertising in public spaces. Consuming alcohol in small, medium or large quantities or not at all is not just a matter of individual choice. The environment that surrounds us, which is influenced by laws, regulations and public policies in force, also influences our decisions and our desires, often without our knowledge. In order to better understand and identify possible solutions, the Public Health Association of Quebec (ASPQ) provided a summary of its series of five webinars that took place in spring 2023.

Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health: Knowledge mobilization activities

October 25, 2023: This webinar explored knowledge mobilization activities supporting Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health. It was a follow up to the CAPE CoP event held in February 2023, shortly after the Guidance was launched. At this event, presenters shared updates and described some of the knowledge mobilization activities, tools and resources that have since been developed as well as ongoing plans.

Reducing alcohol harm in municipalities in Ontario: policy options and overcoming challenges

November 29, 2023: This webinar explored policy options available to municipalities to help reduce harms and costs associated with increased alcohol availability in their communities. Presented data on prevalence of alcohol consumption, deaths, emergency department visits and hospitalizations in Ontario; expansion of alcohol availability and impacts; and shared the experience of one local health unit who partnered with their municipality and utilized sociodemographic and health data to prevent the expansion of alcohol retail availability in a neighbourhood experiencing low socio-economic factors.

Social determinants of substance use and harm: existing trends and policy options

February 7, 2024: This webinar explored the social determinants of substance use and harm. Presenters discussed research describing existing trends and examining the association between social factors and substance use and harm, including by sex/gender, socioeconomic position and income inequality; and highlighted the evidence of existing alcohol control policies for reducing inequities in alcohol use.

Alcohol in parks roundtable

April 30, 2024: This roundtable provided an opportunity to revisit the Alcohol in Parks policy report and reflect on changes in the policy landscape since released in 2021; hear from CAPE CoP members about their experience of planning, assessment, implementation and/or evaluation of alcohol in parks initiatives; explore how the topic is being discussed in various jurisdictions, organizations and settings; who is advocating for and against various policies; what processes and powers are in place in various jurisdictions (e.g. bylaws) and connect with others working on this topic and share resources (e.g. data sources, surveys, evaluation reports).

This session was not recorded.

FASD prevention and public health policy

May 8, 2024: This webinar explored a highly stigmatized topic in the alcohol field; the prevention of alcohol use in pregnancy, and how action on alcohol, child welfare and related public health policy matters in FASD prevention. During the session, presenters provided the latest data on the extent of alcohol and other substance use in pregnancy, and the impact on child health from Canada’s national FASD diagnostic database; shared information on FASD prevention practice and policy work across Canada; considered how this work meets the four core principles of a public health approach to substance use; and discussed how supportive alcohol policies and related public health policy play a key role, at each level of FASD prevention.

Fact Sheets

The CAPE CoP offers a national email listserv, research presentations, roundtable discussions, policy forums, and cross-sectoral and -jurisdictional networking sessions related to alcohol policy. 

Members receive regular communications in relation to CoP events, resources and updates about the CAPE project. There is no cost associated with joining and members are welcome to participate in whatever capacity works best for them.

To sign up, please fill out this short membership form. Pour vous inscrire, veuillez remplir ce court formulaire.

The CAPE CoP has more than 500 members, from all 13 provinces and territories plus Canada-wide and international jurisdictions. Members include those working in public health/health services, government alcohol regulation/distribution/retail, public safety, cancer-related and other NGOs, advocacy groups, people with lived and living experience, peer organizations, students, research organizations and more. 

If you have any questions about the CAPE CoP, please contact the coordinators directly at

Please note: materials produced by CAPE are available in both English and French. Simultaneous interpretation in either French or English is provided for webinars/presentations. Email correspondence is primarily in English.

Upcoming Events

 

Webinar: Legal aspects of duty to warn, the example of FASD

Wednesday, May 29
10am PT / 1pm ET / 2pm AT

All manufacturers and suppliers have a general common law duty of care to inform consumers of the risks inherent in using their products. Alcohol manufacturers and suppliers (which includes government liquor authorities) have not yet been held accountable for failing to inform Canadian consumers of the risks of alcohol consumption. Join us for this webinar exploring the concepts of duty to warn, standard of disclosure, legal liability and the viability and real-world challenges of taking legal action, looking at the example of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD).

Presenter: Professor Robert Solomon, Faculty of Law, Western University

This event will be in English with simultaneous French interpretation. The presentation component will be recorded.

To attend events, join the CAPE Community of Practice: Sign up here / Inscrivez-vous ici

Current Activities

Last updated February 2024

Excise tax on alcohol products 
There has been recent interest in excise tax adjustment in Canada. Some CAPE CoP members have engaged in writing letters. These letters represent the views of the individuals who have sent them.

Alcohol labelling
There has been growing interest in alcohol labelling initiatives in Canada and elsewhere. In Canada, much of this interest has stemmed from the recent update to low risk drinking guidelines now known as the Guidance on Alcohol and Health which calls for mandatory labelling of all alcoholic beverages. Some CAPE CoP members have engaged in writing letters in support of various initiatives (see below). These letters represent the views of the individuals who have sent them.

Canada: Motion M-61 National Warning Label Strategy for Alcoholic Products

Canada: Bill S-254 An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (warning label on alcoholic beverages)

 

Canada: Other letters to government

 

Ireland: Public Health (Alcohol) Act (2022 labelling regulations)

 

Event Recordings, Slides, and Summaries

Launch of CAPE 3.0 and CoP

January 19, 2022: This public launch event featured an overview of CAPE research, an update on alcohol policy changes in Canada, a look ahead at CAPE 3.0 and introduced the CAPE Community of Practice (CoP).

 

Alcohol Warning Labels: Informing Canadian Consumers

March 16, 2022: This webinar featured experts in Canada and beyond presenting current initiatives and lessons learned regarding implementing alcohol warning labels, legal considerations for Canadian jurisdictions, and discussion of potential next steps. 

 

Alcohol Warning Labels (AWLs) Roundtables

Roundtables are not recorded. High level discussion summaries are available upon request from 

Les tables rondes ne sont pas enregistrées. Des sommaires de discussion de haut niveau sont accessibles sur demande à l'adresse suivante: 

March 30, 2022: AWLs Roundtable: Exploring the Legal Issues. 
An exploration of the legal issues and considerations around implementation of warning labels in Canadian jurisdictions.

April 13, 2022: AWLs Roundtable: Advocacy Approaches - Australian Perspective
Team members from the Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education (FARE) in Australia provided an overview of the process of developing pregnancy warning labels in Australia and the advocacy approaches used to support their implementation in 2020.

May 4, 2022: AWLs Roundtable: Advocacy Approaches - Canadian Perspective
An exploration of advocacy approaches to support the implementation of alcohol warning labels in Canada.

 

Overt and Covert Alcohol Industry Activities: Navigating the Canadian Landscape

June 8, 2022: This webinar explored how health promotion intersects with private alcohol interests. Alcohol companies employ a range of strategies that contribute to the normalization of alcohol including actively promoting their product through marketing as well as undermining evidence-based alcohol health information through alcohol industry corporate social responsibility (CSR) bodies. Presenters from the UK and Canada provided an overview of how industry CSR bodies operate and highlighted some specific examples of alcohol marketing and CSR activities in the Canadian context.

 

Alcohol Strategies and Action Plans in Canada: Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges

September 28, 2022: This webinar explored the process and progress of alcohol strategies and action plans in Canada. Several Canadian jurisdictions have strategies or action plans under development, active or on-the-shelf. Presenters and panelists discussed their experiences in relation to planning, development, implementation and review of strategies and actions plans, highlighting the challenges and opportunities at the regional, provincial/territorial, and federal levels.

 

The basics of alcohol pricing and taxation mechanisms: minimum unit pricing, excise tax, sales tax, and markups

November 30, 2022: Raising prices on alcohol through taxes and pricing policies remains one of the most cost-effective interventions to reduce alcohol related harm. It can also be challenging to understand! This webinar explored the fundamentals of alcohol pricing and taxation policies: what they are and why they are important including key concepts and terminology such as minimum unit pricing, excise tax, sales tax and markups.  

 

Updated alcohol drinking guidance in Canada: key messages and next steps

February 1, 2023: An overview of the newly released and updated alcohol drinking guidance (replacing Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines). Presenters discussed the development of the new guidance, key messages, and next steps for raising awareness among Canadians. 

This session was not recorded. 

 

Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms (CSUCH) project: Latest findings

April 19, 2023: Substance use cost the Canadian economy $49.1 billion in 2020, with alcohol accounting for more than 40% of this cost. This webinar presented the latest findings of the Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms (CSUCH) project including costs in terms of lost productivity, healthcare, criminal justice and other direct costs. This session covered all substances with a special focus on alcohol.  

 

Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) 3.0: Results release webinar

May 17, 2023: CAPE results provide updated information about the degree to which federal, provincial, and territorial governments in Canada are implementing policies proven to reduce harm from alcohol use. This webinar covered project rationale, methods and presented results from key alcohol policy domains with specific examples and comparisons of policies currently in place in various jurisdictions. Recommendations for strengthening Canada’s policy response to alcohol harms were also provided.

Promising policies to address alcohol harms in Quebec

October 4, 2023: This webinar explored alcohol policies in Quebec, particularly in relation to labelling, sponsorship and advertising in public spaces. Consuming alcohol in small, medium or large quantities or not at all is not just a matter of individual choice. The environment that surrounds us, which is influenced by laws, regulations and public policies in force, also influences our decisions and our desires, often without our knowledge. In order to better understand and identify possible solutions, the Public Health Association of Quebec (ASPQ) provided a summary of its series of five webinars that took place in spring 2023.

Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health: Knowledge mobilization activities

October 25, 2023: This webinar explored knowledge mobilization activities supporting Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health. It was a follow up to the CAPE CoP event held in February 2023, shortly after the Guidance was launched. At this event, presenters shared updates and described some of the knowledge mobilization activities, tools and resources that have since been developed as well as ongoing plans.

Reducing alcohol harm in municipalities in Ontario: policy options and overcoming challenges

November 29, 2023: This webinar explored policy options available to municipalities to help reduce harms and costs associated with increased alcohol availability in their communities. Presented data on prevalence of alcohol consumption, deaths, emergency department visits and hospitalizations in Ontario; expansion of alcohol availability and impacts; and shared the experience of one local health unit who partnered with their municipality and utilized sociodemographic and health data to prevent the expansion of alcohol retail availability in a neighbourhood experiencing low socio-economic factors.

Social determinants of substance use and harm: existing trends and policy options

February 7, 2024: This webinar explored the social determinants of substance use and harm. Presenters discussed research describing existing trends and examining the association between social factors and substance use and harm, including by sex/gender, socioeconomic position and income inequality; and highlighted the evidence of existing alcohol control policies for reducing inequities in alcohol use.

Alcohol in parks roundtable

April 30, 2024: This roundtable provided an opportunity to revisit the Alcohol in Parks policy report and reflect on changes in the policy landscape since released in 2021; hear from CAPE CoP members about their experience of planning, assessment, implementation and/or evaluation of alcohol in parks initiatives; explore how the topic is being discussed in various jurisdictions, organizations and settings; who is advocating for and against various policies; what processes and powers are in place in various jurisdictions (e.g. bylaws) and connect with others working on this topic and share resources (e.g. data sources, surveys, evaluation reports).

This session was not recorded.

FASD prevention and public health policy

May 8, 2024: This webinar explored a highly stigmatized topic in the alcohol field; the prevention of alcohol use in pregnancy, and how action on alcohol, child welfare and related public health policy matters in FASD prevention. During the session, presenters provided the latest data on the extent of alcohol and other substance use in pregnancy, and the impact on child health from Canada’s national FASD diagnostic database; shared information on FASD prevention practice and policy work across Canada; considered how this work meets the four core principles of a public health approach to substance use; and discussed how supportive alcohol policies and related public health policy play a key role, at each level of FASD prevention.

Other CoP Documents

Les ressources et les rapports trouvés dans cette section sont produits par CAPE.

CAPE 3.0 (2023)

Résultats fédéraux

Fiche de rendement fédérale

Résumé des résultats par domaines d’action

Infographie : résultats des provinces et des territoires canadiens

Résultats du Québec | Infographie du Québec

Résultats du Nouveau-Brunswick | Infographie du Nouveau-Brunswick

Résultats du L'Ontario| Infographie du L'Ontario

Résultats du Manitoba|  Infographie du Manitoba

Infographies par domaine d'action:  

CAPE 2.0 (2019) 

Presentation - Stratégies pour réduire les méfaits et les coûts liés à l’alcool au Canada : Une revue des politiques fédérales, provinciales et territoriales (Fev 2019)

Rapport complet (Fédéral) 

Sommaire (Province/Territoire) 

Rapport complet (Province/Territoire)

Nouveau-Brunswick

Québec

CAPE 1.0 (2013) 

Sommaire (Province/Territoire)

Rapport complet (Province/Territoire)

Québec 

Conseils et fiches d'information

Recommandations fondées sur des données probantes pour l’étiquetage des produits d’alcool au Canada (2022) 

CdP de CAPE - les enregistrement de l’événements, diapositives de presentation et résumés d’événements 

19 janvier 2022 

16 mars 2022 

8 juin 2022 

28 septembre 2022 

30 novembre 2022 

4 octobre 2023

25 octobre 2023

7 fevrier 2024

 

Les tables rondes ne sont pas enregistrées. Des sommaires de discussion de haut niveau sont accessibles sur demande à l'adresse suivante: 

CdP de CAPE - autres documents  

Acte de Mission

Lignes directrices de liste de diffusion

Autres documents - ressources en matière d’alcool  

Vous trouverez ici une compilation par thème (par exemple, législation, étiquetage, etc.) de liens sur des ressources en matière d’alcool (en anglais seulement). Vous pourrez également consulter une archive de tous les articles de presse affichés sur le serveur de liste de diffusion de la communauté de pratique de CAPE (dont certains sont en français). Veuillez noter que ce document est mis à votre disposition à des fins d’information seulement. Il ne s’agit pas d’un examen complet de la littérature. Si vous avez des questions ou aimeriez suggérer un ajout ou une correction à ce document, veuillez envoyer un courriel à capecopcoord@uvic.ca

Recordings of CAPE Community of Practice sessions.

Project evolution

The CAPE project began in 2011-2013 (CAPE 1.0) with an initial systematic and comparative review of evidence-based alcohol policies and programs across all Canadian provinces (territories were not included).

The second iteration of the project (CAPE 2.0) conducted in 2017-2019, performed a rigorous assessment of the extent to which evidence-based alcohol policies were implemented in all 13 Canadian provinces and territories as well as at the Federal level. 

The third iteration (CAPE 3.0) being conducted in 2021-2023, once again performs a rigorous assessment of the extent to which evidence-based alcohol policies have been implemented in all 13 Canadian provinces and territories as well as at the Federal level.

CAPE 3.0 results were released in May 2023.

Funding

  • Health Canada, Substance Use and Addictions Program (CAPE 3.0 & 2.0)
  • Public Health Agency of Canada (CAPE 3.0 & 2.0)
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant (CAPE CoP)
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CAPE 1.0)

Researchers

  • Dr. Tim Naimi (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Dr. Tim Stockwell (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Dr. Norman Giesbrecht (Co-Principal Investigator | Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, ON)
  • Dr. Marilou Gagnon (Co-Investigator)
  • Dr. Russell Callaghan (Co-Investigator)
  • Dr. Adam Sherk (Co-Investigator)
  • Dr. Mark Asbridge (Co-Investigator | Dalhousie University, NS)
  • Dr. Jacob Shelley (Co-Investigator | Health Ethics, Law & Policy (HELP) Lab, Western University, ON)
  • Dr. Kevin D. Shield (Co-Investigator | Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, ON)
  • Robert Solomon (Co-Investigator | Western University, ON)
  • Dr. Kara Thompson (Co-Investigator | St. Francis Xavier University, NS)
  • Amanda Farrell-Low (Communications Officer)
  • Ashley Wettlaufer (Methods Specialist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, ON)
  • Kate Vallance (Research Associate)
  • Nicole Vishnevsky (Research Assistant)
  • Elizabeth Farkouh (Research Assistant )
  • Bella Priore (Research Assistant)
  • Tina Price (Project Coordinator)