THEME: Real World Connections
Lesson: Lowering the Legal Drinking Age in Saskatchewan (Mature enough to drink
at 18, a Minus 20 article by James Olgilvie, November 24, 2008
Learning Outcomes:
 Students will discuss the implications of lowering the drinking age in Saskatchewan to 18.
Essential Question:
 Should the legal drinking age in Saskatchewan be lowered to 19?
Level:
 grades 9-12
Time:
 1 x 15
Materials:
 article attached (Mature enough to drink at 18, by James Olgilvie)
Procedures
1. Write the essential question on the board
2. Read the article Mature enough to drink at age 18 to the class
3. Write the list of facts on the board:
Province
Legal Age
Before
Year Changed
Alberta
18
21
1 April 1971
British Columbia
19
21
15 April 1970
Manitoba
18
21
1 August 1970
New Brunswick
19
21
1 August 1972
Newfoundland and Labrador
19
21
25 July 1972
Northwest Territories
19
21
15 July 1970
Nova Scotia
19
21
13 April 1971
Ontario
19
18
1 January 1979
Prince Edward Island
19
18
1 July 1987
Québec
18
20
July 1972
Saskatchewan
19
18
1 September 1976
Yukon
19
21
February 1970
4. Discuss and list the pros and cons of lowering the drinking age to 18
5. Have the class respond to the following comments:
“ Far better to have 18 year olds drinking in public where they can learn to drink responsibly
than to have them drinking in private where they learn to binge.” Martinisnsushi
“ oh sure, let’s lower the drinking age and give teenagers cell phones to use while driving.
The number one group of people that have accidents are teenagers…..why in the world can’t
a law just be applied and enforced without making set of new laws?” Janetis40
“When you are told you can’t drink, well then it seems that much more appealing and you’ll
do whatever it takes to be able to. Whether the age is 19 or 18, there will still be kids getting
alcohol, they’ll still drink and drive and there will still be binge drinking”.
Charmedrose86
Mature enough to drink at 18
(A Minus 20 article by James Ogilvie, Monday, November 24, 2008)
The Saskatchewan government should change the legal drinking age in Saskatchewan
to 18.
This issue means a lot to me because I am under the age of 19 and feel that this law is
unfair to teens under the designated age.
We all are all aware that by the time a teenager is around the age of 16, that teen has
partaken in, or does drink, alcohol. The government tells us this is wrong and illegal to
drink and strongly emphasizes that it is something we should not partake in.
Yet when we turn 19, we become consumers and are then targeted and influenced to
drink.
Of the government lowered the drinking age, it would be opening its sales to a larger
group, thus making more profit.
In various governments’ eyes’ when we turn 18 we are legally allowed to vote. We
get the responsibility to choose who will run our country, but we are denied the right to
purchase alcohol.
The logic of our government is telling us that when we turn 18, we can make the
choice of choosing who we want to spend the rest of our lives with. Yet we cannot
simply go to the liquor store and buy some beer.
At the age of 18, we are legally allowed to buy tobacco products, yet we cannot drink
alcohol.
None of that makes any sense to me. The drinking age in Saskatchewan should be
lowered to 18.