WHO KNEW?

E-mail your quirky, comic or complex questions to: whoknew@usask.ca

Q: Let’s say you’re 18 years old and you’re on a plane flying from Toronto to Vancouver. Let’s also say that you order a beer. Do you have to quit drinking that beer when you fly over Saskatchewan because the drinking age is 19?
                                         - Thirsty for answers

Airborne drinking age?

Dear Thirsty:

Good question, and the exhaustive search for an answer ended at the office door of Colin Boyd in the management and marketing department of the College of Commerce.

He explained that airline travel within Canada is considered inter-provincial trade and is therefore covered by federal law. But, there is no federal law governing drinking age. It’s what he called “a hole in the legislation” and in the absence of federal law, provincial law comes into play. By default then, the drinking age on airplanes is provincial jurisdiction although, according to Boyd, “I don’t think it’s ever enforced”.

He speculated the airlines choose as a drinking age the highest age found in the jurisdictions in which they operate, just in case a province decided to pursue the issue.

We're looking for more questions to explore in Who Knew? Send your quirky, comic or complex questions to: whoknew@usask.ca