Justice committee  In short, these are deterrents designed to prevent incidents from occurring. In some cases, people know very well that they won't be charged if their blood alcohol levels are less than 0.10%. There are also cases in which a person involved in an accident leaves the scene of that accident, goes home and has a few drinks, then calls the police station.

Justice committee  No, because it's consistent from zero right up the scale.

Justice committee  I can't agree more. I totally agree with what you said. The other part we should be thinking about is prevention--marketing. MADD is doing a great job, and I think the federal government should jump on that. It should put on some ads to inform Canadian citizens of the dangers of drinking and driving and the impact.

Justice committee  I agree with you.

Justice committee  One aspect we seem to forget is the prevention part.

Justice committee  First of all, if you hear in the news that somebody has been arrested for the fifth time or the tenth time, everybody is going to have a concern here. Everybody is going to ask how the hell that person could have been arrested 10 times, or why he still drives, why he still has a permit, and why he is not in jail.

Justice committee  I believe Mr. Bronfman would be pleased to hear you say he should stop the legal sale of alcohol. Alcohol sales may be the provinces' responsibility, but the federal government levies a tax on it. That means that the various orders of government—

Justice committee  It may be easy for Mr. Petit, but it's a little more difficult for others. We're European, and having a glass a wine with food is not a problem for us. We never feel we're criminal. Where it becomes criminal, however, is when a person whose faculties are impaired drives a vehicle and risks killing or seriously injuring someone.

Justice committee  It can't be photo radar—and we've made a lot of presentations, even in Quebec—because you have to be careful with the Jean-Marie de Koninck report. Police associations in Quebec did express their concerns about photo radar, how it seems to be the panacea for certain people, but it's not, because those people are not arrested or stopped right away.

Justice committee  I think we have to be careful with that. We have to go after all of them, because they're as dangerous.

Justice committee  It wouldn't be hard for you.

Justice committee  You'll remember very well the problems we have to face every time we arrest somebody for impaired driving. It's so low. We're talking about 50% of people being convicted, because of the fact that they jump a lot on technicalities. For instance, as I said, the two hours is so quick.

Justice committee  I'm always comfortable.

Justice committee  Absolutely, I don't question what Ms. Robertson and Ms. Nadeau say. We very much agree on a number of points. It was said that people aren't afraid of being stopped. That's because there have to be a lot of reasons for a police officer to intercept someone. I understand you on that point.

Justice committee  Absolutely, because driving a vehicle isn't a right: people need to get a licence to do it. We're searched in airports in the same way. We're not outraged when we're searched before entering an aircraft. I don't think Ms. Nadeau or Ms. Robertson talked about the fact that, after two drinks, people who rarely drink are dead drunk because they aren't used to alcohol, whereas others can drink 40 ounces of scotch, get into their vehicles and drive.