Public Safety committee  To my knowledge, the authorities in British Columbia and Alberta have decided to equip every patrol vehicle with an approved screening device to avoid a delay and any resulting issues. However, I must say that I don't see how testing that is random can be made arbitrary.

Public Safety committee  I don't have anything for Alberta at my fingertips. British Columbia did something very similar. In British Columbia, if you are over 0.08, they will take your vehicle for about 30 days, I believe. The British Columbia fatalities dropped sharply. I believe the same thing has happ

Public Safety committee  There is no one answer. This may be part of the answer. More enforcement would be part of the answer. Given the demands on police officers these days and budget problems, I think that's hoping for something that's not likely to happen. Stronger administrative measures are part of

Public Safety committee  I don't think even MADD would say that stiffer penalties are what we need. We have stiffened the penalties repeatedly over the years, from a $300 fine for a first offence to putting people in jail for a second and third offence. The penalties are high by the time you add what you

Public Safety committee  I think you are absolutely correct. One of the problems with the research is that in Australia, random breath testing was brought in along with lowering the BAC to 0.5, with high publicity, and enforcement, etc. The state of Victoria has something like eight “booze buses”. They'

Public Safety committee  They are all taken from the website of the Garda, so I can certainly do that. In 2008, they had 18,013 for “driving while intoxicated”, which was reduced to 7,962. Traffic fatalities went from 279 to 188. This is what I was talking about: 78,290 MAT—which is their way of saying R

Public Safety committee  No. One of the studies in New Zealand, which I believe was referenced by the standing committee, made an effort to break down the 49% reduction they had, and it attributed 22% of it to RBT and 20-some per cent to the lowering of the BAC, etc. It is a difficult thing to break up.

Public Safety committee  If the proposal in Bill C-226 was accepted, the answer would be yes. Any police officer in their patrol vehicle could administer the test to identify the presence of alcohol on the road. In major cities, a dozen police officers may stop traffic and select five or six individuals

Public Safety committee  I assume the committee would like to hear from police officers about the situations they face on the roadside. I am a lawyer in Ottawa, and I don't really know what issues they may be facing.

Public Safety committee  The consequences would be the same if they were stopped by a police officer. The question is whether the police could set up checkpoints for all sorts of vehicles in a rural setting. There are also all kinds of vehicles in Toronto. Police officers can set up checkpoints almost an

Public Safety committee  What's in Bill C-226 is based on the Australian model and not on the legislation in Ireland, where major road testing is carried out, there are advertisements, and so on.

Public Safety committee  First, I'll address the bolus and intervening drink changes. In the R. v. St-Onge decision, the Supreme Court repeated its criticism of both of those defences. You will perhaps want to hear from the alcohol test committee, but it is my understanding that a person downing several

Public Safety committee  No, I do not have numbers as to when those defences were used. The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics only gets raw numbers, acquittals and such. The 84% is up from what it was at one stage. It was about 70%, 15 years ago or thereabouts. I think you'll find that number in t

Public Safety committee  I don't know how many cases have been decided. Back on my desk, I have one that I received this week from Quebec, which was an appeal from 100 decisions consolidated into one appeal. The person was pulled over in 2009. The expectation is that they are going to try to appeal tha

Public Safety committee  The bill contains elements that would help a bit in the fight against drug-impaired driving. With this bill, we are trying to make the testimony of evaluating officers more effective. If an evaluating officer determines that a person's ability to drive is impaired by a drug after