There are a couple of things. First of all, I accept the intention behind this. I have thought about the difficulty with this myself. However, on the whole, we've heard a preponderance of evidence suggesting that the way to deal with this significant problem of impaired driving in Canada.... We have the highest rate of impaired driving in the major countries, and we have to take significant steps to deal with it. In the countries that have had mandatory alcohol screening, it has led to people feeling like there is a good chance, or a more significant chance, that they will be caught, and that fear of getting caught is what actually deters the activity that we are trying to stop. While I understand the issues at play here, I believe that limiting this only to the roadside checks would not go far enough in order to satisfy the objective of the bill.
I do agree that we have to ensure that it is done in a proper fashion. The law addresses, of course, that any unlawful check, including pulling somebody over for irrelevant considerations, would not be acceptable.
In addition, I will be making an amendment to the preamble later, which will hopefully speak to this point in a more substantive way.
To achieve the objectives of this bill, I believe it is important that mandatory alcohol screening be permitted for stops outside of just the roadside checks.