Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a bit about what the whole issue does to families. I want to support my colleague from Lakeland for what he has brought forward. Over the years in Saskatchewan and working years ago with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, I have found out that we really must strengthen the laws. My colleague spoke about the province of Manitoba and what it has done to right the legislation that was wrongly written and to put forward laws that stop drunk driving.
We have to look at the death rate from drunk driving. Death by impaired driving is three times the national murder rate. Impaired driving kills three times as many people as those who are murdered every year. Approximately 75,000 Canadians are impacted by impaired drivers every year.
Impaired drivers get behind the wheel of a car 12.5 million times a year, but there are only 70,000 charges. Our justice department, our police officers, our RCMP officers across the country do not have enough staff to stop impaired driving the way they should. There is no way they can be out across the country stopping and charging impaired drivers.
We see people who have been charged with impaired driving released and allowed to travel again. As my hon. colleague from Provencher said, they go into court. I remember a person who went into court and said that because he served in the armed forces he could not blow in the breathalyzer, and he got off. To me, that is not safe and it is something we need to change.
My hon. colleague has brought forth valuable legislation that will help. We have to take and study this. It has to go to committee. It needs to be looked at very seriously because it is a huge problem and we have to ensure that it is looked after.
In the year 2000, 30% of the fatally injured drivers had been drinking prior to the collision. Note that this reflects driver deaths only, not injuries. Nor does it reflect those who may have been killed or injured as a result.
The House should seriously look at what my hon. colleague has brought forward, and I thank him on behalf of all Canadians country for what he has done.