Bill C-338 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (street racing)

Criminal Code

[Inky Mark, Canadian Alliance, Dauphin—Swan River, MB]

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that street racing is injuring and killing innocent people, besides those in the vehicles. I am honoured to rise to speak on Bill C-338 on behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

This legislation treats street racing as an aggravating circumstance when sentencing anyone convicted of killing or seriously injuring someone with a motor vehicle if it is established that street racing was a factor at the time of the incident.

This legislative change will provide tougher sentencing. Bill C-338 also proposes a nationwide mandatory driving prohibition to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed.

For many young thrill-seekers, street racing is a popular pastime that has taken its toll in lives lost. Statistics on street racing crashes vary by region. Some police forces and insurers keep track of numbers and some do not. Recently in Toronto, for example, 17 people have died in a one year period as a result of street racing.

Street racers put more than their own lives at risk. In many cases, passengers, pedestrians and other motorists are killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When things go wrong, the causes are common: driver inexperience, excessive speed, and variables such as traffic and road conditions.

Street races take a number of forms. Some are highly organized and can involve tens of thousands of people. Some are spur of the moment, based on two willing motorists in traffic. Penalties for street racers who kill range from a suspended sentence to life in prison. It is up to the judge, as we know.

Each province has its own motor vehicle act which deals with non-criminal street racers, those who neither harm nor kill anyone but are caught in the act. It is hard for police to catch racers in the act, since they race in brief spurts and can outdistance squad cars quickly. Instead, drivers are usually caught on equipment violations such as the relocation of the car's gas tank to the trunk or the addition of tanks containing nitrous oxide, which helps achieve higher speeds.

This summer, the CBC spent a considerable amount of time covering street racing in the province of British Columbia. Vancouver and the surrounding areas had an active street racing scene, which has left a trail of death in its wake in recent years and certainly did this past summer. Police in Vancouver do not keep records on the number of street racing deaths, but a look at insurance records gives some indication.

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia says that from 2000 to late 2002, 86 people between the ages of 18 and 21 were killed in car crashes in that province. Most of the crashes involved high speeds.

Amid growing public outcry and a mounting death toll, the B.C. government responded by enacting the toughest laws in Canada against street racing. In 2002, the province introduced legislation that gave police the authority to immediately impound any vehicle used in a street race. A vehicle can be impounded for 48 hours for a first offence and for up to 30 days if the driver is caught again within two years. It also allows police to suspend street racers' drivers' licences on the spot. As well, it sets a maximum fine for street racing: $2,000 plus demerit points.

Ontario's hot spot, as we know, is Toronto. It also is the deadliest area in the province. Between May 24, 2001 and May 24, 2002, according to police, there were 17 deaths in that city attributable to street racing.

In my own province of Manitoba, under section 189 of the province's motor vehicle act, no person shall race a motor vehicle. It carries a fine of up to $5,000 upon conviction, plus 8 demerit points, which also means that a driver's insurance goes up by $250 and a driver's licence can be suspended for 6 to 9 months. There are also prohibitions against inappropriate modifications to vehicles, although some exemptions are made for raising and lowering suspensions, mostly for heavy loads and mobility vehicles.

We know that the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom also have put in provisions to deter street racing, but as members know, a lot of youths do not understand at this point in their lives how dangerous street racing is. I think that every generation since the invention of the motor vehicle probably has had some kind of racing phenomenon or experience, but the problem is that the cars youths have today are not like the cars we used 40 or 50 years ago.

In closing, let me say that this party certainly supports the bill. We will certainly vote for Bill C-338 down the road.

[Paul MacKlin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-338 proposes to amend the Criminal Code to specify that street racing must be deemed to be an aggravating factor when a court is sentencing an offender in relation to four offences. These offences are: criminal negligence causing death; criminal negligence causing bodily harm; dangerous driving causing death; and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Currently when performing the very difficult task of setting the appropriate and proper sentence, the courts must take into account the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of the offence and the circumstances of the offender. This is the law. Where the Crown or the defence or both believe that the sentence is not appropriate, each may appeal from the sentence.

For the many offences in the Criminal Code, there will be widely varying circumstances under which each offence might be committed.

Mitigating and aggravating factual circumstances, including any street racing, are already placed before a sentencing judge. Unless there is some compelling reason to specify that certain circumstances are aggravating, it is better not to multiply the instances where the Criminal Code spells out that a particular way of committing the offence will be an aggravating factor. In my view, we are not seeing any such reason emerging from decisions of the trial courts and the appeal courts with regard to the four offences when street racing is a part of the circumstances of these offences.

Bill C-338 is not proposing to alter the periods of imprisonment available to the courts for the four offences. I am in agreement that the available periods of imprisonment for these offences are already very serious.

The Criminal Code makes it an offence to cause death by criminal negligence. This is a very serious offence, which could be committed, for example, when driving a motor vehicle in a street race.

The crown prosecutor is required to prove that the accused's behaviour showed a “wanton and careless disregard for the lives or safety of others”, and that this behaviour caused the death. The maximum penalty for causing death is a period of life imprisonment. This is equal to the maximum penalty for manslaughter and the maximum penalty for impaired driving causing death.

For dangerous driving that causes death, the crown prosecutor is required to prove that the driving which caused the death was dangerous to the public, having regard to all the circumstances, including the nature, condition and use of the place at which the motor vehicle was being operated and the amount of traffic that at the time was or might have been expected to be at that place. It is easier for the crown prosecutor to prove the elements of the dangerous driving offence than the elements for the offence of criminal negligence causing death. The maximum penalty for dangerous driving causing death is 14 years' imprisonment.

The maximum penalties for the offences of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and dangerous driving causing bodily harm are the same as the maximum penalty for impaired driving causing bodily harm. All are set at 10 years' imprisonment.

Without going into detail, I would simply observe that Bill C-338 would replace the discretion a court now has to impose a driving prohibition order, which would start after any period of imprisonment had been served with a mandatory order of driving prohibition.

I think there is logic to the present law, which gives the court discretion on whether to impose a driving prohibition order. If a court imposes a long period of imprisonment, the court may believe that there is no need to have the offender prohibited from driving at the point of release from imprisonment, which will be far in the future. In such cases, the offender will have been off the streets and away from the wheel for a very long time.

Also, I note that Bill C-338 proposes to put the street racing factor alongside the impaired driving provisions in section 255.1. Even if the bill were advisable, which I do not believe it is, the provision would more logically be placed within a new section 221.1, criminal negligence, and within a new section 249(5), dangerous driving.

In closing, I will say that unless we have a strong indication that the courts are not treating street racing as an aggravating factor for these four offences, restraint ought to be exercised in specifying that street racing become an aggravating factor.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak on Bill C-338.

I will read the summary to facilitate understanding of the bill.

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to provide that “streetracing” is to be considered an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing a person convicted of an offence committed by means of amotor vehicle under section 220 (causing death by criminal negligence) or 221 (causing bodily harm by criminal negligence) or subsection 249(3) (dangerous operation causing bodily harm) or 249(4) (dangerous operation causing death).

In addition, it provides that any person convicted of an offence under any of these provisions by means of a motor vehicle that was involved in street racing at the time the offence was committed be subject to amandatory driving prohibition, which shall be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed in respect of that offence.

In short, the bill introduced by the hon. member of the Canadian Alliance is intended to increase the gravity of offences if they were committed during street racing.

We, and young people themselves, are beginning to understand that youth often see cars as a means toward freedom, getting out, getting away. WIth a car, a person can do just about anything he wants.

Young men and women—for both sexes are now attracted by cars—see cars as a means of empowerment, but they need to understand that parliaments are enacting legislation to stop them from abusing that power. If, for one reason or another, this member's bill is not passed by this House, one day another Parliament, whether the House of Commons or a provincial legislature, will pass far more stringent measures on street racing.

It is important for young people to understand that no matter how fine the car is—it can become a toy—it can also become a deadly weapon. The races that fascinate young people and raise their adrenalin are dangerous and can cause death. Politicians cannot allow this to happen. We cannot risk having people injured or killed because they happen to end up on the street where the race is being held. We cannot allow this.

Parliament must send a clear message to those who indulge in these excesses. That is the message we must send our young people. The text of the bill before us, at first glance, seems once again to focus on criminalizing the situation. However, the role of Parliament is to try to get society to show self-respect. Young people have to understand that.

It is true they have fabulous machines. Thousands of dollars are spent on these cars. That is great for shows. However, a person who owns such a vehicle wants to see it in action. Increasingly, companies are giving consumers the opportunity to test drive these vehicles on race tracks. I encourage people to use such tracks to see how well these cars perform.

However, young people must understand that they should never use their cars to race on the streets, roads or highways.

Speed limits must be respected. That is the message. It is more important than criminalizing certain activities.

Some may think people are still out to get them. That is not the message. We simply want them to be able to live with the other people in our society, with those who do not choose speed.

Society is making a choice when it puts speed limits on highways and streets. Everyone is expected to obey them, the young, the old, and those in the middle like me. It is important that we all be able to respect each other.

That is, generally, the message we are trying to send. It is important. If there had been no speeding, if there had not been street racing, if there had not been accidents, and often, accident victims, we would not be here today discussing a bill such as that introduced by the hon. member. We are doing so because there have been excesses.

Often, young people do not discourage each other. That is, they encourage each other, when they should be doing the opposite. If they respected themselves and respected their cars, they would tell their friends who speed, “Do not do that, because one day, they will stop us from doing it.”

And that is exactly what is happening. In fact, legislatures are discussing and banning the use of nitroglycerine and many other things.

In my opinion, in some respects, the young people themselves must be able to help each other obey the laws. When the laws are not respected, we, as members of Parliament, must ensure that the majority of the public can lead a peaceful life. That is the purpose behind this bill.

Obviously the method often used to discourage is the stick, not the carrot. An offence must be punished. So we have legislation setting out offences. The bill introduced by the hon. member from the Canadian Alliance proposes to toughen the penalties for street racing.

In that regard, we must commend the bill. Obviously, if it is before us today, it is because there have been problems. However, aside from the fact that laws like this lean heavily on the stick, I hope that young people understand that they have to spread the word among themselves that existing laws must be obeyed.

Obeying the law means going to places specifically designed to accommodate this kind of activity. I commend the business people who, increasingly, are developing facilities for car racing. Yes, they are doing that. There are such facilities. I therefore encourage young people to race in appropriate facilities. Elsewhere, on our streets, roads and highways, they must obey the law.

Obviously, this would have the advantage of preventing similar bills from being introduced and legislation passed because there has been abuse.

That is the point I am trying to make to the young men and women who see their cars as a means toward freedom. That is true and that is good. It is true that you can do anything you want with them. These small cars have more powerful engines than the biggest cars we had in the days when I enjoyed speeding. I am not saying that we did it all the time, but occasionally we went over the speed limit. Still, offenders must be punished. That is how we end up with this kind of bill.

Naturally, I urge all hon. members to support the member for Surrey North, but more importantly, I urge young people to obey existing laws to make sure that bills like this one are never passed in our parliaments.

[Chuck Cadman, Canadian Alliance, Surrey North, BC]

moved that Bill C-338, an act to amend the Criminal Code (street racing), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Mr. Speaker,I am pleased to rise today to debate the private member's bill I have brought forward on behalf of the citizens of Surrey North.

The bill proposes to amend the Criminal Code with respect to the activity commonly referred to as street racing. It was introduced because Canadians want the federal government to address the problem.

Street racing is killing or seriously injuring innocent people. The carnage caused by this reckless behaviour is on the rise in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and other cities.

Bill C-338 proposes to do something about it and today I ask the government to take action to stop street racing by supporting its passage.

Bill C-338 would amend the Criminal Code to provide that street racing is to be considered an aggravating circumstance for the purposes of sentencing a person convicted of an offence committed by means of a motor vehicle under section 220, criminal negligence causing death; or section 221, criminal negligence causing bodily harm; or subsection 249(3), dangerous operation causing bodily harm; or subsection 249(4) dangerous operation causing death.

The bill also provides for mandatory nationwide driving prohibitions to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed.

On a first offence, a judge must suspend driving privileges for a period of one to three years; for a second offence, two to five years; and for subsequent offences, three years to life. Also, if death was caused on the first or second offence, a lifetime prohibition will be imposed on the second conviction.

Canadians want anyone who seriously injures or kills as a result of street racing to be prohibited from operating a motor vehicle for a significant period of time. They do not want individuals convicted of this carnage to serve a sentence and then be allowed to immediately get behind the wheel of a car. Neither do they want such individuals to simply move to another province to obtain a driver's licence.

Letters, phone calls and e-mails to my office from across Canada have expressed outrage over the carnage caused by street racing and lenient sentences being imposed, including conditional sentences. The victims do not support using house arrest for anyone convicted of being responsible for a street race crash that has either killed or seriously injured someone.

The British Columbia Automobile Association has advised me that its members are clearly in favour of swift and severe penalties for street racers. In its 2002 member opinion survey, its members expressed support for all penalties used to punish racers, including two year driver's licence suspensions, vehicle impoundment, fines and demerit points.

Last February 6 I received an e-mail from Margaret-Ann Blaney, minister of justice for New Brunswick. She has forwarded my bill and accompanying information to her officials in the justice department. She said that the suspension of driving privileges was of particular interest to her officials.

On February 4, Gord Mackintosh, minister of justice and attorney general of Manitoba, wrote me an e-mail concerning Bill C-338. He said the following:

Since the current Government of Manitoba was elected in 1999, it has introduced strong new measures to deal with dangerous drivers such as tougher driver's licence suspension provisions, including lifetime suspensions, and vehicle forfeiture for the most serious offenders. Amendments made to our Highway Traffic Act this past session have given our provincial street racing offence the highest maximum fine and the highest demerit point level available for provincial driving offences under that legislation.

I agree that it is important to ensure that there are appropriate measures to deter individuals from engaging in reckless driving behaviour that puts others at risk. I perceive that the challenge in pursuing Criminal Code changes is to weigh the effect of what may be inconsistencies in treatment between impaired driving and street racing offenders and to ensure that they are all workable.

You have raised an important issue.

In a January 21 letter to me, Robert Runciman, the then minister of public safety and security in Ontario, declared the following:

Street racing is a serious offence that puts all road users at risk and we must not tolerate it on our roadways. I am pleased that your proposed amendment to the Code would address the issue of street racing during the sentencing process. Mandatory driving prohibitions need to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed by the courts. I hope your initiative will succeed.

Ontario responded to street racing by proposing legislation empowering police officers to immediately seize a vehicle and suspend a driver's licence for 48 hours. It also proposed to prohibit the use of equipment and substances, such as nitrous oxide, used to boost the performance of engines for the purpose of racing. Unfortunately, the legislation was not enacted due to the recent election. Hopefully the new Ontario minister of transport will reintroduce this legislation.

Jamie Muir, minister of justice for Nova Scotia, wrote to me on January 22 stating:

Although the police have not reported any particular problem enforcing the Provincial prohibition of street racing in this area, this appears to be an effective tool for helping to control the problem where it exists.

Dave Hancock, the minister of justice for Alberta, wrote on January 9 to say:

Street racing is a dangerous practice, which should be an aggravating factor for sentencing certain offenders.

He reminded me that Alberta has significantly increased the penalty for the provincial offence of street racing in the traffic safety act.

The Alberta justice minister went on to suggest that Bill C-338 could be amended to include impaired driving cases. I would have no problem considering amending Bill C-338 to apply to anyone convicted of impaired driving causing death or bodily harm where it can be established that street racing was a factor.

In my home province of British Columbia, Surrey-Green Timbers MLA, Brenda Locke, called on the federal government to crack down on street racers in a motion she introduced in the B.C. legislature.

With the passage of her motion on April 7 of this year, B.C. sent a strong message. Locke's motion calls on Ottawa to remove conditional sentencing for street racers who kill or maim innocent victims. An amendment was introduced to encompass all criminals convicted of a serious violent crime. Both the amendment and the motion passed in the B.C. legislature.

The motion was brought forward in honour of the lives of innocent victims of street racing: Jerry Kithithee, Constable Jimmy Ng and Irene Thorpe. Those three individuals were brutally killed by young men whose reckless, selfish, irresponsible and deliberate actions stole their lives and broke many hearts. There have been more since.

The motion was an important step in urging the federal government to make the necessary changes to the Criminal Code to make our roads safer. It was a de facto endorsement of Bill C-338, which I introduced in this place months earlier. Bill C-338 proposes the Criminal Code changes that B.C. seeks.

Street racing is the height of recklessness and a deliberate endangerment to communities. British Columbians understand the magnitude and the consequences of this activity and question why the courts treat it so lightly and ineffectively.

British Columbians seek justice for street racers and their victims. There have been numerous incidents where victims simply do not see justice.

A number of support groups in British Columbia support a crackdown on street racing. They include Family Survivors Against Street Racers, Our Angels in Heaven and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

B.C.'s solicitor general and minister of public safety, Rich Coleman, confirms that 60 vehicles involved in street racing have been seized and 180 driver's licences were suspended since amendments were made to provincial legislation in 2002.

Mr. Coleman stated the following:

This government has for some time been telling the federal government that in cases of offences involving violence, death and sexual assault, we don't believe there should be the opportunity for conditional sentences within the law. We have taken that to the table of the federal justice ministers.

Geoff Plant, the attorney general of British Columbia, says that conditional sentences have no role to play in street racing offences. He states:

The Criminal Code needs to be tightened up in the area of conditional sentencing so that conditional sentences are rarely, if ever, available for a crime of this nature.

MLA Locke concluded her remarks on the passage of her motion by saying:

It has been my privilege to work alongside Nina and her family as well as the Member of Parliament for Surrey North and other volunteers. I want to thank the Member of Parliament for Surrey North for aggressively raising this issue in the Parliament of Canada.

I should point out that the Nina referred to in this case is Nina Rivet who is a sister of Irene Thorpe, the woman who was run down by a street racer while out for a walk one evening.

What is the position of the Liberal government?

In response to a letter from me late last year, the Minister of Justice does not appear to be interested in helping to stop street racing. He says that mandatory minimum criminal penalties “do not work from the point of view of general deterrence and recidivism”.

There is no empirical evidence linking deterrence and recidivism as they relate to street racing. In fact, in a recent B.C. case, the driver who was eventually convicted for the street racing crash that caused the death of Irene Thorpe was arrested for speeding while he was out on bail, even though his licence was suspended as a condition of that bail. This counters the minister's contention because it shows clearly that there is a need for legal deterrence. There is a recidivism problem.

The minister also says that driving prohibitions should remain discretionary. He says that sometimes they may not be necessary because of long terms of punishment handed down to street racers who kill or seriously injure. The problem with the minister's contention is that no one has ever received any of these long prison terms for convictions resulting from street racing.

House arrest is being used for street racers who kill or injure people. This is inappropriate from the standpoint of the victims or their survivors and the protection and safety of communities that have a serious street racing problem.

The government also maintains that there are only a few minimum sentences provided for in the Criminal Code and that it is not willing to add more, such as the mandatory drivers' licence suspensions called for in this bill, but there are many areas in the Criminal Code that provide minimum sentences. I counted 26 offences in the 2004 Martin's Annual Criminal Code that carry a minimum sentence upon conviction. And many Canadians agree that there should be more minimum sentences for many more offences in the Criminal Code. Our criminal justice system needs more teeth.

The government also believes that taking account of aggravating circumstances for the purposes of sentencing is a very rare tool provided for in the Criminal Code. The justice minister suggested that aggravating circumstances for sentencing are virtually limited to hate motivated crimes, abuse of position of trust and authority, spousal and child abuse, criminal organization and terrorism.

In fact, there are other examples. Bill C-15A, passed in June 2002, made home invasion an aggravating factor in sentencing for certain offences. A judge sentencing a person for unlawful confinement, robbery, extortion or break and enter must consider it an aggravating circumstance if the offence was committed in an occupied dwelling where the offender was either aware that it was occupied or was reckless in this regard, and where he or she used violence or threats of violence against a person or property.

I point out that when I presented a motion to that effect at the justice committee a year or more earlier, government members called me silly, and yet they enacted it themselves a year later.

Bill C-46, currently before the justice committee, in clause 3 sets out four aggravating factors for sentencing purposes with respect to fraudulent manipulation of the public markets.

The minister's lame excuses betray a lack of serious consideration being given to this issue by this government. There is no requirement to equate street racing with other crimes in order to allow it to be considered as an aggravating circumstance.

I expect that the government will hang its argument against my bill on its refusal to consider minimum sentences and the use of aggravating circumstances when sentencing. Those are not good enough grounds for the government to fail to address the problem of street racing.

Sanctions should reflect the fact that street racing is an activity that goes beyond the regular criminal activities involving motor vehicles that are covered by the Criminal Code. Driving prohibitions must be nationwide to prevent anyone convicted of causing death or serious injury while street racing from simply moving to another province and continuing to drive.

As street racing incidents causing death and serious injury continue to occur in our major cities, passage of Bill C-338 would serve as a deterrent. This is a proactive legislative measure that would provide one step in the fight to stop street racing.

Today the government has the opportunity to support Bill C-338. It has an opportunity to stand up for the victims and to hold the perpetrators properly accountable.

[Chuck Cadman, Canadian Alliance, Surrey North, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-338, an act to amend the Criminal Code (street racing).

Madam Speaker, two years ago, Irene Thorpe, just out for an evening stroll, was struck and killed by a car involved in a street race in Vancouver. Last fall, RCMP Constable Jimmy Ng was killed by a car allegedly in a street race in Richmond, British Columbia. Last weekend, there was a horrendous crash in Winnipeg allegedly again involving street racing.

I am introducing legislation to amend the Criminal Code specifically to provide that street racing is to be considered an aggravating factor for the purposes of sentencing a person convicted of dangerous operation of or criminal negligence involving a motor vehicle.

In addition, the bill provides that any person convicted under these provisions who was involved in street racing be subject to a regime of mandatory national driving prohibitions ranging from one year to life, to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)