Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation

Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) and Community of Practice
A blue map of Canada with red lettergrades on each province and territory representing alcohol policy scores
Alcohol policy scores across Canadian jurisdictions from CAPE 2.0 (2019)

Join the CAPE Community of Practice

Inscrivez-vous à la CdP de l’ÉPCA

The Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation (CAPE) is an ongoing research project that provides rigorous assessments of how well provincial, territorial and the federal government in Canada is implementing policies proven to reduce harm from alcohol use.

Policy domains encompass areas such as 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, treatment and harm reduction, alcohol strategy, 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), and then updated, refined, and expanded in 2019 (CAPE 2.0). The third round (CAPE 3.0) launched in 2022 along with the national alcohol policy community of practice. Results for CAPE 3.0 will be released in Spring 2023. 

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 3.0 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 300 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

Details coming soon! 

Simultaneous French interpretation is available for events.

Please note:events are members-only. You must be a CAPE Community of Practice member to attend. 

Join the CAPE CoP

Inscrivez-vous à la CdP de l’ÉPCA


Current Activities

Last updated January 2023

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. 

Other CoP Documents

The reports and resources in this section are produced by CAPE. 

For a compilation of links to other alcohol policy resources by topic (e.g. legislation, labelling, pricing etc), please go to the Useful Links section of this webpage.

CAPE 3.0

CAPE 3.0 is currently underway with project results to be released in Spring 2023.

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. 

Guidance and Fact Sheets

l’ÉPCA 3.0 (2023)

l’ÉPCA 3.0 est actuellement en cours et les résultats du projet seront publiés au printemps 2023. 

l’ÉPCA 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)

Cadre stratégique sur l’alcool (Province/Territoire)

Nouveau-Brunswick

Québec

l’ÉPCA 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 l’ÉPCA - 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 

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

CdP de l’ÉPCA - autres documents  

Moments marquants de 2022 

Évaluation de mi-parcours de la CdP

Acte de Mission

Lignes directrices de liste de diffusion

Recordings of CAPE Community of Practice sessions.

Project evolution

The CAPE project began in 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 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 2022, 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 is currently underway with project results to be released in early 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)
  • 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)
  • Mark Asbridge (Co-Investigator | Dalhousie University, NS)
  • Jacob Shelley (Co-Investigator | Health Ethics, Law & Policy (HELP) Lab, Western University, ON)
  • Kevin 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)
  • Julie McEachern (Project Coordinator)