moved:
Motion No. 148
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the importance of educating Canadians about the consequences of impaired driving due to alcohol, drugs, fatigue or distraction, which, each year, destroys the lives and health of thousands of Canadians, by designating the third week of March, each year, National Impaired Driving Prevention Week.
Madam Speaker, it is with tremendous enthusiasm that I rise to introduce my private member's bill, Motion No. 148. Such bills represent an important part of the work conducted by this House. PMBs, as we refer to them around here, provide members such as myself with an opportunity to put forward and pursue a matter that is believed to be of fundamental interest to our fellow citizens, to trigger a fundamental change in their lives, and to provide a tangible solution to a problem currently impacting their lives.
It is with great pride that I apply myself in my duties as member of Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel. I represent good people, who on a daily basis further themselves to improve their lives and those they hold dear, thus ensuring that we all have a better country that we can all be proud of. I feel very humble when I witness the trust they place in me.
While I resisted the pressures and invitations to become a candidate for public office because of my concerns about my family and profession, all of my constituents know that, when I accepted, I did so with all my determination, energy, and enthusiasm. It was equally clear that I would continue to pursue activities that both defined me and enriched my experience as a parliamentarian. Thus, I continued my practice of law, my teaching, research, and book-writing activities, my involvement with charities, and most important of all, my work as an advocate for road safety, work that brings me back to an important motivation and guiding principle in my decision to enter public service.
Chief among the reasons for carrying on my professional, philanthropic, and community activities after my election is my deep-felt need to remain grounded and retain sufficient independence to carry on my work as an elected official. I am fully mindful that, because of my decision to remain an active law practitioner, and by virtue of the prevailing rules in place, I am precluded from ever occupying a cabinet position. As I will explain shortly, my personal journey and the objectives that I set to attain while having the privilege of being an integral part of this institution more than makes up for any opportunity that I might be forgoing.
I notice that our fellow citizens are adopting healthy lifestyles these days. Ironically, by leading an active life, they are putting their lives at risk, because accidents are the leading cause of death for Canadians under 45. That statistic includes all accidents, not just road accidents, though road accidents account for a substantial portion. Canada suffered a great tragedy in the 2000s when 158 Canadian men and women in uniform gave their lives for their country in a decade-long war.
However, over that same period, nearly 100 times more people died in collisions involving drugs and alcohol. It is an unspeakable tragedy. We are talking about nearly 15,000 people who died in that way. Wars end, but road fatalities never do. Every day, four Canadians die in a collision involving alcohol or drugs. Sadly, the tragedy does not end there, as others suffer serious injuries, leading to paralysis, amputation, and other functional limitations. Add to that all the other injuries and their consequences, as well as the material damages, hospital bills, health care costs, and subsequent losses to society.
In terms of the criminal aspect, police reported more than 72,000 impaired driving incidents in 2015. Impaired driving is the most common offence in cases heard by criminal courts. It is the leading criminal cause of death in Canada.
This brings us to cannabis. As we speak, Canadians are driving under the influence of cannabis. This drug is currently sold by criminal gangs, which are motivated solely by profit and are not bound by any obligation to ensure the well-being or safety of their clients. It goes without saying that when cannabis is legalized, people will continue to consume it, and we will still have a problem with people driving under the influence of cannabis. We are entering a new era that will require a new approach and stepped-up prevention efforts.
The legalization of cannabis raises many concerns about its impact on driving. However, legalization also brings new hope, as it may result in more research on cannabis, its effects, and, above all, techniques for determining its precise impact on driving ability.
As for collisions and non-accidents, in common language, we tend to consider or at least to talk about a fatality caused by a drunk driver as an accident, when really, there is nothing accidental about it. It is a collision, not an accident.
In terms of technology, we cannot talk about the tragedy of impaired driving without mentioning the meaningful progress that has been made in recent years. Although considerable progress has been made, we still cannot forget the staggering number of deaths that do still occur as well as the serious injuries. I want to reiterate that this progress would not have been possible without all the efforts made in the area of prevention by many stakeholders in the field. I cannot say it enough: prevention must continue. We must constantly continue, renew, and increase prevention efforts.
There is more. Technology must also serve to help and strengthen prevention. Over the next few years, we can look forward to advances in artificial intelligence and deep learning in order to come up with more solutions to eliminate the scourge of drug-impaired driving and eliminate the sources of distracted driving.
What is my motivation? To adequately describe my motivation, I need to provide a glimpse into my personal journey. After 5,000 years of lineage in a magnificent locality in what is now Italy, I was the first generation to be born abroad, namely, in my great country of Canada, while being a dual citizen. Where I was born was, at the time, the poorest area of the poorest neighbourhood in Canada. While being poor, we never felt poor, because we had one another.
My father is a survivor of the Nazi camps, where he faced forced labour, the harshness of physical and psychological punishment, and hunger on a daily basis. Both he and my mother devoted themselves to their family while instilling the values and virtues of hard work and service to the community. That is what brought me to be a founder of the largest ethnic cultural centre in Canada, the Leonardo da Vinci Centre, on the board of which I remain to this day and where I have established my riding office.
Then there was a call. In my case, it all began with a phone call in the middle of the night on July 24, 2010. The phone stopped ringing before I could answer it. I went back to bed, and shortly after, it rang again. When I answered, the caller identified himself as a physician in the emergency ward of the Montreal General Hospital. One of my three daughters had been brought there after being in a car that struck a tree at a very high speed, actually 140 kilometres an hour. She was in critical condition, had brain bleeds, multiple fractures, and was in a coma. I did not recognize her when I saw her. The physician insisted that I get to the hospital as quickly as possible. He kept repeating and asking if I understood what that meant.
It was the summer of Claudia's 16th birthday. After a midsummer school reunion, she was waiting for a taxi with two friends when a young man offered to drive the girls home. Despite their initial refusal, they accepted. Claudia and her friend, Justine, arrived at the hospital between life and death.
Claudia was in a month-long coma before waking up completely paralyzed. I was told she would never walk again. I never accepted the initial reports that she would not make it. Claudia, on the other hand, never accepted the notion that she would not walk again. Today I simply need to turn my head, and I see a living miracle every time I look at her. Now she attends McGill law school. She is the youngest member of the board of directors of a public corporation in Canada's history. She was awarded the distinction of the Young Quebecers Leading the Way Award for 2017. She has run two half marathons. All of that is because of her tireless advocacy in matters of road safety, and particularly, impaired-driving prevention. She is a survivor and a miracle. However, Justine, who was with her in the car, is still in the hospital, having gone through another surgery this week.
Claudia asked that I salute the member for Souris—Moose Mountain for his inspiring words of wisdom he shared with me and with her this morning, and also that I salute the member for Rivière-du-Nord, whose son was lost in a similar tragedy.
I dissected the events. I had ample time to reflect. That is when I created Cool Taxi with the fathers of two other girls, which offers the option of a safe ride home and gives an opportunity that did not exist before. What we also see is the number of deaths in Quebec, as elsewhere in Canada. In Quebec we used to lose 100 kids a year between the ages of 16 and 25. Now we lose 50. That means that every year, there are 50 kids who are alive, and this is year after year.
I want to salute all those who participated in the round table this morning and give a particular salute to Theresa-Anne Kramer, MADD, la Fondation Jean Lapointe, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction, Arrive Alive, and Alco Prevention Canada.
What I really want to emphasize is that people can change their behaviour, and prevention and intervention efforts on the part of all of the volunteers and groups working in this area can help.
I hope that all of these efforts combined will put an end to this scourge. I am asking my colleagues to say yes to making a difference, to road safety, to prevention, to saving lives, and to a national impaired driving prevention week.
