So what is your point, JLM? There probably are many churches in Alberta as well; religious right is very strong in Alberta. Incidentally liberalman, it is not only Mormons that abstain from smoking and drinking. All of Fundamentalist Christianity frowns on smoking and drinking. It was the Fundamentalists who were responsible for bringing in the prohibition in USA.
Fundamentalists are very strong in Alberta. I remember we discussed the proportion of Fundamentalists in different provinces a while ago (I don’t remember if it was this forum or canada.com). Somebody dug up the statistics, and percentage of fundamentalists is the highest in Alberta, higher than any other province.
So there certainly are many people in Alberta who don’t drink. JLM, if you are saying that there are many bars in Alberta, I can only conclude that while there are a large number of people in Alberta who don’t drink, the rest drink even more than average to compensate for those who don’t.
Alberta must be a rather strange province, with many abstainers and many heavy drinkers.