Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic
The Canada Temperance Manual and Prohibitionist's Handbook (1881), published by the Dominion Alliance
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| Abbreviation | Dominion Alliance |
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| Formation | 1877 |
| Extinction | 1920s |
| Purpose | Prohibition of alcohol sales |
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Region
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Canada |
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Membership
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Largely Protestant anglophone |
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Official language
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English |
The Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic was an organization established in 1877 in Canada that lobbied for prohibition of alcohol. Membership was largely Protestant and Anglophone. The Dominion Alliance faced passive resistance from politicians concerned about the views of their constituents, particularly in Quebec, but had some success at the local level. Sale of alcohol was prohibited provincially and then nationally during World War I (1914–18). After the war the national and provincial temperance laws were repealed and the Dominion Alliance faded into irrelevance.
The first temperance societies in Canada were founded in 1827, led by Protestant revivalist denominations. In 1875 a general convention of organizations working for suppression of the liquor traffic in eastern Canada recommended formation of a Dominion Prohibitory Council, representing all of Canada. The council met in Ottawa in 1876 and decided to found the Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic, which was established the next year. The Dominion Alliance lobbied for temperance legislation, as a counterpart to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). The provincial organizations became branches of the Dominion Alliance, which was governed nationally by the Council of the Dominion Alliance. The objective was "the immediate prohibition of the liquor traffic", but the Dominion Alliance supported any legislation that moved towards that goal.
The Dominion Alliance was incorporated in 1887. In 1901 the Privy Council ruled that federal legislation applied to manufacture and import of intoxicating liquor, but the retail trade was regulated provincially. The Dominion Alliance then oriented its efforts on the provincial branches, which became relatively independent.
The Dominion Alliance was active across Canada, but was anti-Catholic, racist and sometimes anti-Semitic, which limited its effectiveness. Members included mainly English-speaking Protestant organizations such as WCTU and YMCA branches, Salvation Army Corps and Baptist Young People's Unions. Until 1907 the organization was guided by its secretary, Francis Spence, who was its secretary and sole full-time employee. Spence lost credibility with the radical Advanced Prohibitions of the Dominion Alliance when he supported Oliver Mowat's government in Ontario, and Mowat avoided passing a prohibition law on constitutional grounds. In 1907 Spence's brother, the Reverend Ben Spence, succeeded Francis Spence as secretary of the Ontario branch.
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