Victoria Day weekend used to mean something in Canada.

Packed highways heading north. Campgrounds full. Backyard BBQs. Patios buzzing. Coolers loaded into the trunk. The unofficial start of summer.

Now?

Beer sales are collapsing. Alcohol consumption is plunging. Canadians are cancelling trips, skipping restaurants, and quietly cutting back on the little things that once made life feel normal.

And this story is about far more than alcohol.

This is about a country losing its ability to celebrate.

In this episode of Tap the Maple, we break down the alarming decline in Canadian alcohol sales, the crushing affordability crisis hitting families coast to coast, rising gas prices, automatic federal alcohol tax increases, and the growing feeling that ordinary Canadians are being priced out of everyday life itself.

When people stop taking the cottage trip…
When they stop filling the cooler…
When they stop gathering around the fire…

that’s not just inflation.

That’s cultural decline.

Has Canada become a country where even the first long weekend of summer feels financially stressful?

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