The Great Toronto Demonstration for prohibition, 1916.
The war probably added few people to the ranks of prohibitionists, but it did make it difficult to oppose prohibition. To oppose prohibition meant to favour the waste and inefficiency of drinking. It meant not to support the soldiers at the front. In this atmosphere, prohibitionists conducted a great series of demonstrations like this one in Toronto. Opposition was scattered and disorganized as all provinces but Quebec went dry in the war years. Even Quebec adopted a partial prohibition law for a short time in 1919. Finally, the federal government imposed prohibition laws for the whole of Canada. The federal laws expired shortly after the war, leaving the various prohibition laws of the provinces in force.
