Share this Story : PNI Atlantic News Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr

COMMENTARY: I am a P.E.I. bootlegger

My name is Tim Banks, and I am now officially a bootlegger.

Subscribe now to access this story and more:

Unlimited access to the website and app

Exclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcasts

Full access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on

Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists

Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists

Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.

Unlimited access to the website and app

Exclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcasts

Full access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on

Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists

Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists

Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.

Access additional stories every month

Share your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting community

Get email updates from your favourite authors

Sign In or Create an Account

I recently paid a $7,500 fine to our outdated liquor commission because we took alcohol from FiN, our licensed restaurant at Blackbush Resort, and walked it across the road to our hotel (part of the same resort, obviously). I appealed the decision. I lost. I paid the fine. I’m not asking anyone to give me my money back, and I’m certainly not suggesting Prince Edward Island shouldn’t have rules governing the sale and service of alcohol.

But this isn’t about rules being broken. It’s about personalities and political patronage. And all this helps to explain why this province produced so many bootleggers.

Prince Edward Island has a proud and colourful history of people finding their way around liquor laws. We were the first province in Canada to embrace prohibition and the last to finally give it up. For decades, rum-runners brought liquor to Island shores while bootleggers figured out increasingly creative ways to get it to their customers.

The Nellie J. Banks, one of the most famous rum-running vessels associated with P.E.I., spent years carrying illegal liquor to the Island. Fishermen would head offshore in small boats to collect their orders, while authorities played cat and mouse trying to stop them. No relation to me, as far as I know. But I admire the entrepreneurial spirit.

Our modern-day bootlegging operation........

© PNI Atlantic news