the next three decades. The socially conservative governments of Premiers William Aberhart and Ernest Manning were slower to relax liquor laws compared to most of their contemporaries in other provinces. In one notable policy, the Social Credit government refused to license commercial airlines during their tenure and took vigorous steps to ensure that commercial flights were not serving alcohol whilst travelling through Alberta airspace. The Alberta government and ALCB began loosening some restrictions in the 1950s and 1960s. Clubs and canteens could be licensed from 1950 onwards. In the 1957 Alberta Liquor Plebiscite, voters in and near Edmonton and Calgary voted overwhelmingly to de-segregate beverage rooms; however, men and women were not allowed to drink together province-wide until 1967. Having repealed the requirement for customer signatures on counter slips to purchase alcohol in 1965, in 1969 the ALCB opened its first self-serve liquor store in Edmonton. By 1970 the ALCB was no longer bottling products and commercial product packaging became normal. The Progressive Conservative government replaced the Socreds in 1971, and moved to loosen restrictions further, lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. Although some Alberta MLA's since then have mooted raising the drinking age back to 19 to match the laws of neighbouring British Columbia and Saskatchewan, the lower drinking age remains in effect . Responsibility for domestic beer warehousing was transferred to the Alberta Brewers' Agents Limited in 1973. The 1980s saw restrictions relaxed further, with the first wine stores licensed in 1985 and the first hotel-based cold beer stores approved in 1988. In 1990 hotel off-sales expanded from beer only to beer, wine and spirits. Privatization The complete privatization of Alberta liquor retailing following former Calgary mayor Ralph Klein's accession of the premiership in 1992 is the most notable event in the ALCB's history, and for many Canadians it is also the most controversial event in the recent history of alcoholic beverage distribution in Canada. Klein promised Albertan voters the liquor industry would be privatized if he was elected in the 1993 election. After he won the election, the Klein government carried out the privatization almost immediately. Under Municipal Affairs Minister Steve West, privatization was carried out, and the 202 ALCB liquor stores were systematically sold off. Where private interests believed an existing ALCB store could be profitably operated as a privately owned liquor store, the store continued to operate under new ownership. Liquor stores that