The province of Alberta decided to hold a plebiscite after divisive debate in the legislature on the need to deal with demands to loosen regulatory restrictions to liquor that had been in place since the Prohibition era.
[1] In addition to the liquor controversy growing in the province, there was another testing of citizens' sentiment on an issue.
[2] That decision later led to controversy when numerous producers were missed after the plan was defeated in a close vote.
The opening of additional ALCB outlets was still limited by "local option" votes in the affected districts.
The Alberta government abolished gender-based segregation of bars in the rest of the province (without an additional plebiscite) in 1967.