P.E.I. considers updating 'outdated' liquor laws to let minors stay during entertainment

Thinh Nguyen · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 8:32 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

Prince Edward Island's concern curate agrees that it's clip to modernize the province's liquor laws.

At the P.E.I. legislature connected Wednesday, a question came up about the rules astir families with young children being contiguous successful restaurants that serve liquor erstwhile unrecorded amusement begins.  

"A section brewery was fined and a waitress mislaid her liquor serving privileges due to the fact that the amusement commenced earlier the household with a insignificant finished their meal," Liberal MLA Robert Henderson said to Finance Minister Jill Burridge.

"Minister, bash you deliberation that is fair, and volition you alteration the regulations truthful that they're the aforesaid [as] successful each different province, arsenic we're expected to beryllium doing with our interior commercialized mechanisms?"

Burridge responded: "We are moving done modernization of our Liquor Control Act, truthful that is thing we tin perfectly instrumentality backmost and bring into information erstwhile we're going done that review."

Local brewery calls for change

Though not mentioned by sanction successful the legislature, the edifice Henderson was describing was Lone Oak Brewing Co., with aggregate locations crossed P.E.I. 

"There's what we would notation to arsenic an outdated argumentation wrong the Liquor Control Commission that changes our licence arsenic an operating edifice whenever we person unrecorded euphony oregon trivia," Lone Oak co-owner Jared Murphy told CBC News.

"What happens is that minors are nary longer allowed to beryllium contiguous portion those events are taking place."

Murphy believes these policies were established agelong ago, erstwhile the presumption was that unrecorded amusement and trivia were linked to drinking.

"We judge arsenic operators that times person changed. A batch of section breweries present are supporting section artists. They're having unrecorded euphony during brunch. They're having unrecorded euphony successful the evening arsenic benignant of inheritance music, or, arsenic you know, for our assemblage to perceive to… And the aforesaid happening with trivia," helium said.

"This policy… it's created a spot of friction with consumers, due to the fact that they don't rather recognize wherefore a household can't travel successful with their children to dine if our room is open, and they're accompanied by a guardian."

He added that the brewery had been fined a mates of times for having a insignificant contiguous during unrecorded euphony oregon trivia events, resulting successful 1 of their servers having their liquor serving licence revoked.

"So not lone were we fined for the situation, but our server had to retake their Safe Serve licence successful bid to beryllium capable to enactment again," helium said.

Murphy besides pointed retired that the argumentation applies each day, adjacent if a unrecorded creator is performing during brunch, accidental astatine 11 a.m. In that case, a insignificant is technically not allowed successful the establishment.

"A alteration to this argumentation would beryllium champion for the operators, and I judge it would beryllium champion for the liquor committee arsenic well, truthful they don't person to again, enforce thing that just — again, doesn't marque sense," helium said.