I'd like to give you a graphic example from this spring with respect to human-powered craft and the risks involved.
This occurred on the Muskoka River near Bracebridge. A father and an eight-year-old were out paddling. The father is alleged to have been impaired. The canoe rolled over. The child was swept over high falls and killed...an eight-year-old, sitting in that pointy end of the canoe. The father was charged with impaired operation of a vessel causing death and operating a vessel with blood alcohol of over 80 milligrams causing death. That would be eliminated under the proposed change here.
When you look at 60% of the boats in Canada being these.... As shown in a survey done of some 3,291 cottagers on the Muskoka Lakes, paddle-boards are increasing from 16% of the fleet to 42% of the fleet. These are the stand-up paddle-boards. Kayaks increased by 10% between 2013 and 2017. All you have to do is drive down the street and look at the roofs of cars; they all have canoes, kayaks, and paddle-boards on them.
We have worked very hard as a group at the Safe Boating Council. We run a safe boating awareness week. We generate about 170 million impressions a year for about $300,000, which is an incredible ad buy, and one of our messages is “Don't drink in a boat”. We're going to change that to “Don't drink and don't smoke dope in a boat”. There are all of these things: “Wear your life jackets” and “Take a boating course”.
Fundamentally, we need the law to back up our position, and changing this definition is a very difficult concept, I'm afraid, from our point of view, so please consider this. It's in the law now, it works now, and we need it from the boating community's point of view.
Thank you.