Background

In 2024, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (WDG) Public Health conducted an online community survey to explore alcohol-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours among residents 16 and older. This survey came out after the release of Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health in 2023, which provides information and updated evidence on alcohol consumption. Results from the survey help inform program and service development and monitor the local alcohol landscape.

Key Points

Analysis of the survey results identified several key knowledge gaps with a significant number of respondents unaware that:

• Alcohol increases the risk of cardiovascular disease
• Alcohol can cause cancer
• There is no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy.

Four out of five respondents reported drinking in the past year. Many respondents (twenty-nine per cent) reported drinking at moderate risk or high risk levels as defined by Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health, and thirty-nine per cent of respondents reported binge drinking in the past year.

Specifically, youth and young adults (ages 16 to 29) and men were identified as priority populations for future health promotion campaigns based on overall lower levels of knowledge about alcohol’s impact on health and higher rates of high-risk drinking.

Alcohol is widely available in WDG. More than half of survey respondents (55 per cent) live within one kilometre of an alcohol retailer.