On Aug.1, 2008, the Era of Cheap Happiness came to an end.

On that day — a Friday, just to rub a little margarita salt in the wounds — regulated liquor prices came into effect in Alberta. No more $1 highballs, no more two-bit glasses of beer. No more cheap fun, no more puking in the streets, no more peeing in any old corner of Whyte Avenue.

If I were in the 18-25 demographic, I would probably be enraged at the government’s decision to interfere in my right to get slobberingly, droolingly, stupidly drunk at minimal cost. Alas, I am not. In fact, when I was in the 18-25 age bracket, dollar highballs and 25 cent glasses of beer were probably about average prices.

Let me just say that I fully support minimum drink prices.

I suggested it, after all, so I guess I have to support it.

It was during my inglorious three-plus years as an Alberta Liberal Member of the Alberta Legislature, representing the fine people of Edmonton-Meadowlark, that I asked the Legislative Assembly to formally endorse the idea of minimum drink prices for Alberta. Not make it law, mind you. Just an expression of the opinion of the Legislature on the matter.

My motion was rejected, but you must remember that it was a different world back in November of 2007. Stephen Harper was prime minister. George Bush was in the White House. War raged in Iraq. A little show called The Office made us laugh. We flocked to theatres to see No Country for Old Men. The Oilers were on their way to missing the playoffs. Yes, it was a simpler time.

No, wait: it wasn’t. It was just nine stinking months ago that my motion was rejected with extreme prejudice by the august members of the Alberta Legislature.

So how did we go from a complete rejection of minimum drink prices to it being the law of the land?
It’s simple, really. When a constructive suggestion is made by a member of the opposition, it is almost always rejected. If it’s a really good idea, expect it to become law later.

The debate, such as it was, over my motion provided some insight into the workings of the legislature, and the mindset of the Tory herd.

For example, in my introductory remarks I mentioned that not too many years ago, Alberta had segregated drinking establishments that kept men and women in different drinking areas. According to Hansard, the official record of the Legislature, this mention was greeted with whoops from “Some Hon. Members” of “Right on. We like that.”

That’s the kind of 1950s mentality that permeates the government benches.

Once the debate began, the Tories began to pile on the hyperbole, in the pseudo-gentlemanly manner of the Legislature.

MLA Gordon Graydon said setting minimum drink prices would “interfere with the ability of a business to adjust their price to attract customers” and “may not reduce overconsumption.” MLA Frank Oberle said the motion was “ill-considered and poorly researched.” MLA Neil Brown (who I actually rather liked, despite his right-of-Ezra Levant political stance) said, “The price of drinks should be set by the free market and certainly not by the dictation of the government.”

And youngster (by legislature standards) Doug Griffiths, who was kind enough to compliment me for my “concern and . . . compassion for people who have faced violence in the streets,” said he thought implementing minimum drink prices would be “viewed as a magic bullet that’s supposed to cure all the violence issues that happen outside of bars in the evening.” I never said that, of course, but no matter.

Griffiths went on to say, “I have a principle personally that I don’t support anything that I don’t know is going to work. I don’t believe we should make rules or regulation or new legislation on the hope that it will work, on the anticipation that it will work, or on some myth that it might work without some concrete proof and evidence that it will do something to solve the problem we’re addressing. But until I have proof, I won’t support bringing in new regulations or new legislation that could cost businesses a lot and make the public think we’ve addressed the violence issue and it’s magical unless there is some evidence that it works.”

But now, nine months later, we have minimum drink prices. No proof that it works to deter excess drinking has been offered by the government, but not a peep of complaint came from Frank Oberle.

The free market’s right to get 18-year-olds liquored up has been trampled without a word of dissent from defender of democracy Neil Brown.

I wasn’t at all surprised by the Tory non-reaction. In much the same way, Tory MLAs clammed up on the issue of disbanding health boards.

And the media? Not one single news outlet, to my knowledge, recognized the fact that the legislature had rejected the notion of minimum drink prices just nine months ago.

So, as a pre-emptive strike, let me give you a warning. When the government bans driving while talking on a cell phone — which it will; a bill is already in the works — remember that Alberta Liberal MLA Harry Chase once made that motion in the Legislature ... and it was rejected.

[Editor’s note: This column is the second in a series of three commentaries on provincial affairs by former Edmonton-Meadowlark MLA Maurice Tougas.]