Looking back at our life in the small town I see we
owed much to the activities of the W.C.T.U. and these
initials, I hasten to explain, stand for "Woman's Christian
Temperance Union," and not "Women Continually Torment Us,"
as some have believed.
—Nellie McClung
In The Stream Runs Fast, Nellie McClung claims
that the first time that she "felt the stirrings of ambition
to be a public speaker" was at a Woman's Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU) Convention in the town of Manitou.
She had been a member of the organization for some time, and
was thrilled to have the opportunity to welcome the
delegates on behalf of the local union.
McClung determined that she would not bore the audience
with statistics, but rather would strive to fire their
imaginations—a difficult task with so hard a word as
prohibition. She recognized that people drank to add some
excitement to their lives, so she wanted to capture their
imaginations with hopes of a new and better world without
alcohol.
McClung had come under the influence of the WCTU at an
early age, for Mrs. A. McClung, who became her
mother-in-law, was President of the Manitoba Provincial
division. As a result of this connection, Mrs. McClung asked
Nellie to give public readings from her novel, Sowing Seeds
in Danny, in order to raise money for a Home for Girls in
Winnipeg that was fostered by the WCTU. This event is often
viewed as giving a kick-start to Nellie's career as a public
speaker.
Heritage Trail: Liquor Control in
Alberta, Part Seven: The Liquor Control Board |
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The first hotel to be granted a
liquor licence under the new Alberta Liquor Control
Act of 1923 was the Palliser Hotel in Calgary. This
signalled a great boom for the hotel industry, which
had collapsed after the introduction of Prohibition
in 1916. But according to historian David Leonard,
the hotels still had to meet very strict criteria. Listen Now |
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