Despite campaigns that encourage moderation and the growing availability of alcohol-free products, alcohol consumption among Quebecers is considered worrying by experts who call for moderation.
In Quebec, we consume on average 8.4 liters of pure alcohol per person per year, or the equivalent on average of 494 glasses per person annually, according to data collected in 2022 by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec ( INSPQ).
Alcohol consumption per person is the average consumption of pure alcohol among people aged 15 and over.
“We remain fairly equal in our annual liter consumption,” said the general director of Éduc’alcool, Geneviève Desautels, who invites Quebecers to think more about when having a drink.
“Science tells us that there are risks associated with alcohol consumption, particularly when it is more than moderate,” she stressed.
For cardiologist Martin Juneau, excessive alcohol consumption must decrease in Quebec.
Photo provided by Martin Juneau
“From a medical point of view, I find that we are trivializing alcohol consumption a little. When you see 27% of young people aged 18 to 34 who consume excessively, it’s a little worrying. There are still many Quebecers who consume more than what is recommended,” he added.
What is considered excessive consumption? “That’s five drinks or more for a man on one occasion and for women four drinks or more on one occasion at least once a month. It’s a bit technical, but that’s how Statistics Canada and Health Canada define excessive alcohol consumption,” he stressed.
Easy to drink
In the street, the Quebecers we spoke to admit that consuming alcohol is part of the recurring practices of many in the province.
This is the opinion of Kioumedjian Krikor, a Frenchman met on Saint-Jacques Street in Montreal.
Photo Agence QMI, DÉSIRÉ KAFUNDA
“With the advertisements, with the billboards, with everything that is in magazines and then on the internet, it makes drinking alcohol a little easier. Today, it’s easier to go have a beer or two beers than to smoke a cigarette outside. So it’s quite disconcertingly easy,” he explained.
On the same street, a student who does not wish to give his identity finds “alcohol consumption here in Quebec exaggerated. It’s something that’s really trivialized and basically it’s not considered something addictive like a drug,” he lamented.
Not far from there, we meet Christine Tewfik who comes from Ontario. “I noticed a difference between the two provinces,” she said with a smile. She believes that in Quebec, more alcohol is consumed than in her province of origin.
Think before you drink
At Éduc’Alcool, general director Geneviève Desautels also notices this tendency to consume excessively.
“We have 25% to 30% of people who consume more in a risky way,” she mentioned.
She advocates caution. “It’s important to drink moderately at every opportunity, but also to ask yourself the question “Why am I drinking? In what context do I drink? And then what will the effects be?”, she enumerated.