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News
Survey shows most Canadians will ignore new alcohol guidelines
A new survey has revealed that the majority of Canadians plan to ignore the government’s update to alcohol consumption guidelines.
The revelation, laid bare by a new Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Global News, uncovered that, despite Canada’s new guidelines recommending alcohol consumption remain below two drinks per week, 73% of respondents said it was unlikely to affect their decision making.
The report follows the Canada Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction (CCSA) leading a government initiative to update Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines (LRDGs). The project, funded by Health Canada, began in July 2020 and the two-and-a-half-year process culminated in the creation of Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health, which now replaces the LRDGs.
Despite these guidelines, the Ipsos poll, which surveyed a population-representative sample of 1350 adult Canadians in February 2023, revealed that “Canadians don’t appear set on radically changing their behaviours”.
The findings from the survey also illustrated how over half of Canadians genuinely felt skeptical about the guidelines, with 57% of respondents outlining how two drinks per week was so low that they thought that it “lacked credibility”.
Additionally, the report indicated that 52% of Canadians thought that the recommendations that had been made were a fear-mongering tactic that was not reflective of the views of its population.
Still, despite the strict guidelines that will come into force, just a fifth (20%) of Canadians believe that they actually consume too much alcohol, showing the disparity between the measures being set and general public consensus.
Canada’s new alcohol guidance places it on the conservative end of the scale in comparison to most other countries. For instance guidance published by Australia in 2020 recommended a maximum of 10 drinks per week, with France’s guidelines also in step with that total.
The UK recommends no more than 14 units of alcohol per week, equal to approximately six drinks, a measure that Matt Lambert, CEO of the Portman Group described as a “robust and effective guidance for those who choose to drink”.
Lambert also pointed out that “Canada’s new drinking guidance is at odds with the vast majority of guidelines around the world that recognise that alcohol can be consumed in moderation and consumers can make their own choices based on practical official advice”.