10 THE ALCOHOL PROBLEM 
to prohibit the retail sale of liquor within their respec- 
tive limits; but a serious difficulty arose as to the 
relative extent of Dominion and Provincial power in the 
enactment of prohibitory legislation. Roughly speak- 
ing, the Dominion Government has the exclusive 
jurisdiction over manufacture, importation, and exporta- 
tion of liquor, whilst the Provinces have power to 
regulate or prohibit the sale of liquor within the 
Province; but the uncertainties of the situation have 
often been made an excuse for avoiding further legisla- 
tion. However, in 1878 the Federal Parliament 
passed the “ Canada Temperance Act,” which im- 
proved upon the Dunkin Act in many particulars. 
The measure was adopted successfully in three of the 
smaller Provinces; but in Ontario and Quebec it was 
only temporarily adopted in some of the countries 
and cities, and by 1889 the Act was repealed in every 
locality. 
In 1898 the Federal Government decided to test 
public opinion on the question of prohibition by a 
plebiscite, and as a result 278,380 votes were cast for 
prohibition, and 264,693 against. Eight out of the nine 
Provinces showed a majority, but the Government 
decided that the results did not justify the introduction 
of a prohibitory measure, and the Ontario Government 
similarly declined to act on the result of the referendum 
taken in the Province in 1902, though this gave 
109,749 votes in favour of a Prohibition Act and 
103,548 against it, or nearly a two to one majority. As 
public sentiment was denied expression by a change 
in the law of the land, it turned to the local option 
provisions already in existence, according to which 
any municipality might enact a by-law prohibiting