 The large number of signatures required ( beginning with the 1913 election , 9 @,@ 399 signatures were required ) meant that only an issue capable of galvanizing much of the province could lead to a referendum . Prohibition was such an issue . The Conservatives were advocates of such a referendum ( during the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly , Conservative Cornelius <unk> had advocated prohibition or , failing that , a government monopoly on alcohol sales ) , but Sifton and his Liberals were less enthusiastic . They knew the boon to government coffers that liquor sales represented , and were not eager to alienate either the UFA 's moral reformers or the province 's hoteliers and <unk> . Once the referendum legislation was in place , however , its advocates wasted no time : in 1914 the legislature accepted a petition bearing 23 @,@ 656 names , and duly called a referendum on the subject . The Alberta prohibition referendum passed resoundingly , and the legislature passed the Prohibition Act in the spring of 1916 . Initially the new Act appeared successful : in 1917 there were 5 @,@ 151 convictions for all crimes across Alberta , as compared to an annual average of 12 @,@ 706 over the preceding four years . By the time the province 's enforcement of the act was exposed as being either deliberately lax or merely futile , depending on the observer , Sifton had left office . 
