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CHANGES RELATED TO LICENSED PREMISES

Liquor Licences

The new legislation reduces the previous 12 liquor licence classes to 4 classes:

Class A: Liquor-Primary Licence

This licence is for eligible businesses that operate a bar, lounge, or similar business where most of the business revenue will be from the sale of liquor, regardless of whether food is also sold.

Class B: Food-Primary Licence

The licence is for eligible businesses that operate a restaurant, diner, or similar business, where most of the business revenue will be from the sale of food.

Class C: Mobile Licence

This licence is for eligible businesses that provide catering, entertainment or tourism services in various locations.

Class D: Liquor-Incidental Licence

This licence is for eligible businesses and organizations that are established for a purpose other than selling liquor or food, but that include liquor sales as part of their operation.

Licence Extensions

Eligible licence holders may apply for optional extensions that provide additional privileges:

Manufacturer's Extension

This extension allows Class A and B licence holders to sell and serve the products they have legally manufactured under a manufacturing licence.

Banquet Room Extension

This extension allows certain licence holders to sell and serve liquor at occasional functions held in a banquet room located in the same building as the licensed premises.

Mini-Bar Extension

This extension allows licence holders located in tourist facilities to sell liquor from a locked refrigerator or cabinet in a guest room registered to a person over 19 years of age.

Room Service Extension

This extension allows certain licence holders located in tourist facilities to sell liquor to registered guests by having an employee deliver it to the guest's room.

Off-Premises Extension

This extension allows Class A and B licence holders to sell 6-12 containers of beer to customers for consumption off the premises. Off-premises sales are not permitted on Sundays or later than 10pm . Other restrictions apply.

BYOW Extension

This extension allows Class B licence holders to permit customers to bring a commercially-made bottle of wine to the premises for consumption with their meal. Licence holders may charge customers a fee for this service. Customers will be required to confirm that the restaurant has a BYOW extension before bringing wine into the premises.

Multiple Licences

Eligible licence holders may apply to operate two licences in the same premises. The eligible combinations are: 1) Class A and Class B or 2) Class D held by a service club and Class B.

A few of the conditions include:

  1. Only one licence may operate at a time;
  2. Licence holders may operate the licences:
    1. on different days (e.g. Class A one day, Class B the next day), and/or
    2. within the same day (e.g. Class B until 10pm , Class A until 2am).
  3. Licence holders must decide which licence will operate at what time. Once the schedule is approved by the Liquor Licensing Board, the licence holder cannot change the schedule without first obtaining the Board's approval. All such requests require 30 days notice.

Eligibility Criteria

In addition to the existing eligibility requirements, applicants are required to demonstrate that their manager, financial associates and spouse meet such criteria as:

Liquor Free Events

Under the previous legislation, some licence holders are limited in how they use their premises during “non-licensed” hours. The new legislation allows these licence holders to apply for liquor free events during “non-licensed” hours, at which no liquor will be sold, served or consumed.

Intoxication

Under the previous legislation, licence holders were forbidden from having an intoxicated person in their premises, yet they may have been legally liable if they asked that person to leave and he or she were harmed. As a safety measure, the current legislation allows licence holders, if they choose, to have an intoxicated person stay in the premises while waiting for a safe way to get home. The licence holder is responsible for supervising the intoxicated person at all times, among other conditions.

Responsible Service

The previous legislation allowed licence holders to serve a maximum of 2 drinks at one time to a single customer. As an added safety measure, the new legislation also requires licence holders to limit the size of drinks to amounts that cannot reasonably be expected to make a customer intoxicated. This means that super-size glasses and pitchers for individual customers are not permitted.

Offences by Customers

Licence holders are required to keep customers safe. The new legislation adds an element of customer responsibility. Customers who commit the following offences, may be issued a ticket by the RCMP:

Licensed Premises Bylaws

Municipalities that wish to have more control over licensed premises within their boundaries may enact bylaws, with restrictions. The bylaws may:

Re-Corking

Customers in licensed restaurants who partially consume a bottle of wine with a meal, may take the rest of the wine home with them. Before the customer can take the wine out of the premises, a server must put a new cork into the bottle so that the cork is flush with the bottle.

Sunday Operations

Under the previous legislation, all licensed premises could operate on Sundays except bars and service clubs. Bars and service clubs could operate up to 6 Sundays per year. The legislation allows bars and service clubs to operate up to 10 Sundays per year. As well, any municipality that wishes to reduce or increase the number of Sundays for these premises may do so by enacting a licensed premises bylaw.

Special Occasions in Licensed Premises

Under the previous legislation, if someone wanted to hold a special event in a licensed premises, they had to arrange for the licence holder to sell and serve the liquor at a private event. The new legislation creates two additional options:

Special Occasions in Service Clubs

Service clubs like the Legion and Elks Lodge may take out a Class 3 special occasion permit to allow the public to attend fundraising events in their premises. Restrictions apply.

Special Occasions in Licensed Premises

If agreeable to the licence holder, a person may apply for a special occasion permit to hold an event in the licensed premises. If approved, the permit holder is responsible for selling and serving liquor, and must bring his or her own liquor stock to the premises for this purpose. The liquor stock of the licence holder must not be used. Other restrictions will apply.

Tickets

Under the previous legislation, licence holders who violated the legislation were required to appear before the Liquor Licensing Board. This was a costly and time-consuming process. The new legislation establishes a ticket system, in addition to Board hearings, to give enforcement officers another option for licence holders with low-risk violations. Tickets range from $75 to $450. A licence holder who receives a ticket may pay the ticket or appeal the ticket in territorial court. A list of ticket offences and amounts is available in the NWT Summary Conviction Procedures Regulations.