The keg parties that accompany the start of the school year could see more uninvited, uniformed guests if Ontario police get their way.

Under the proposed registry, each keg would have an identification number. Customers would have to provide their address and phone number in order to take a keg home.Under the proposed registry, each keg would have an identification number. Customers would have to provide their address and phone number in order to take a keg home.
(CBC)

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police has been lobbying the province since June to start a beer keg registry that would give every keg an identification number and require customers to provide their addresses and phone numbers before taking one of the 59-litre containers home.

"It's all about accountability," Ottawa police Sgt. Kal Ghadban said in an interview on Wednesday.

He has been pushing for years for such a registry.

"If people want to party … we're not trying to stop them from partying. What we want to happen is them to do it safely and in a safe environment."

Police argue that the registry would allow them to:

  • Identify who is responsible for an out-of-control party.
  • Conduct pre-emptive strikes on suspicious parties.
  • Crack down on underage drinking.

Sgt. Kal Ghadban said he doesn't know why people would have a problem with police showing up at their parties if they have nothing to hide.Sgt. Kal Ghadban said he doesn't know why people would have a problem with police showing up at their parties if they have nothing to hide.
(CBC)

Ghadban said he doesn't see why people would have a problem with police showing up at their parties if they have nothing to hide.

But Shelley Melanson, president of the Carleton University Students' Association, said she doesn't like the idea.

"I think it's kind of uninformed, this tactic they're using to address drinking issues," she said. "These are systemic problems that we should be addressing in information campaigns, health awareness campaigns."

Staff at the Beer Store Distribution Centre in Ottawa, the only place in the city that sells beer kegs, say they sell about 20 of the 59-litre metal containers to consumers on a typical Friday and triple that number on a long weekend.

In the past, they have sold as many as 10 kegs to one person at a time, or the equivalent of more than 1,000 full Imperial pints.