Mr. Chairman, this is like déjà-vu. In 1999, we did all of this. I was on the committee at that time, from beginning to end. I'm happy to say we made some major changes. I think in November 1999 the bill passed, and we made some major changes. But we're still fighting a situation that was evident then and is still not fixed now.
Back in those days the latitude a judge had for sentencing was from zero to fourteen years. By the time we finished all that legislation changing, it was zero years to life imprisonment, depending on the factors of the incident.
That being said, back when it was zero to fourteen years, the average sentence for impaired driving causing bodily injury was somewhere around two or three years; it was nowhere near the maximum. So we increased it to zero years to life imprisonment for accident causing death where there were aggravating factors. And yet of the sentences they're handing out, unless I'm mistaken, the highest one since 1999 was in a case in Alberta, where I think someone got eight years. There may be a higher one I don't know about.
The courts are simply not enforcing the law. I know there are lots of problems with our court system, but until we get judges who are willing to put forth a deterrent, which they have the power to do, people are going to disregard it.
I did several surveys back in those days. I asked, “Why don't you drink when you drive?” The number one answer was, “I don't want to get caught.” They didn't think they were driving impaired; they just didn't want to get caught. Well, there were a lot of people still driving because there was no deterrent. And there still isn't.
Concerning the 0.05, we didn't make it on the 0.05 back then, but someone just brought up the crux of the thing, which is that you don't even get to court now unless you're 0.1. There's that built-in margin of error, which was not caused by the equipment; it was caused by the courts. Some pretty sharp lawyers convinced the judge one day that the equipment was faulty—which it probably wasn't, but the judge accepted it.
So if you're at 0.08, you will never even get to court, even though you were impaired. There is so much reason to adopt a 0.05, because you're not going to get to court unless you're at 0.08, which is where you should be going to court now, but you're not.
Just to look after what I call that fictitious margin of error, we should go to 0.05, because we will only begin prosecuting at 0.08. I think that will send a strong message out to those people who choose to drink and drive—and it's a choice—and think they're going to get away with it. If the judges let them get away with it, they'll keep doing it and will keep killing and injuring people.
I don't know whether I have a question here, but it's frustrating after all these years to see that we have had the legislation and the courts still aren't even using it.