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- Liberals defend impaired driving bill<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Tough new penalties for pot-impaired driving<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Today’s statement insists any interference in privacy is justified to meet the government’s “compelling objective” of enhanced road safety.<\/p>\n
“The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized as reasonable the authority, under provincial law and common law, of police officers to stop vehicles at random to ensure that drivers are licensed and insured, that the vehicle is mechanically fit, and to check for sobriety,” Wilson-Raybould’s statement reads.<\/p>\n
‘Highly regulated context’<\/h2>\n
“The information revealed from a breath sample is, like the production of a driver’s licence, simply information about whether a driver is complying with one of the conditions imposed in the highly regulated context of driving. It does not reveal any personal or sensitive information and taking the sample is quick, and not physically invasive.”<\/p>\n
![\"Question](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4103856.1494187220!\/cpImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/question-period-20170501.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJustice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says Canadians have limited privacy rights in the highly regulated context of driving. (Adrian Wyld\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
A “fail”\u00a0in the test does not constitute an offence, but could lead to further testing at a police station.<\/p>\n
Mandatory breath tests are already the practice in a number of countries,\u00a0including Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The statement says they have led to a measurable reduction in accidents and deaths on roads and highways.<\/p>\n
In Ireland, the tests have been credited with a 23 per cent reduction in road deaths in the 11 months after introduction. In New Zealand, visible mandatory-screening checkpoints were credited with a 32 per cent\u00a0reduction in crashes, according to the statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Toronto defence lawyer Norm Stanford questioned that data, and called giving police unfettered power to demand a\u00a0breath test\u00a0“dangerous.”<\/p>\n
“It allows for police abuse. Now, police for whatever reason they want, can make you do a breathalyzer. If you talk back to them or they feel you’re disrespecting them, they have the power to do that,” he said.<\/p>\n
Accompanies pot legalization bill<\/h2>\n
Bill C-46 was\u00a0tabled last month at the same time as legislation to legalize marijuana, and includes tougher penalties and new powers for police.\u00a0To deal with drivers impaired by pot or other drugs, the\u00a0legislation allows police to demand a driver provide a saliva sample\u00a0if they suspect he or she is impaired by drugs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A positive reading could lead to\u00a0further testing, including a blood test.<\/p>\n
Some lawyers expect that provision will also face court challenges based on privacy and because there is no universally accepted levels for pot impairment with available tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I don’t know there’s a lot of solid research linking impairment to the level of drugs in a person’s system,” Stanford said.<\/p>\n
Unlike the breathalyzer, an officer must have a reasonable suspicion the driver has consumed drugs before asking for a saliva sample.<\/p>\n
But the charter statement said the drug screener is “a\u00a0quick, non-intrusive search method” to provide information, and that individuals have “a limited expectation of privacy” in the highly regulated roadway context.<\/p>\n
‘Endless’ legal challenges expected<\/h2>\n
Despite the minister’s assurances the legislation is charter-proof, Ottawa defence lawyer Brett McGarry\u00a0predicts the bill will produce “endless” constitutional challenges. Saliva tests are unreliable because\u00a0science doesn’t yet accurately measure impairment, and they give\u00a0a high rate of false positives.<\/p>\n
McGarry\u00a0also expects to see challenges new provisions intended to close defence loopholes, including one he says would allow someone to be convicted of impaired driving even if they consumed\u00a0alcohol after driving.<\/p>\n
“That’s a total reversal of the presumption of innocence,” he said. “You’re going to have to prove that you’re innocent even though you were out of the car sitting in your house or a restaurant.”<\/p>\n
Stanford said he had a client who was sober until he got in an accident, at which time he consumed alcohol that was stashed in his trunk.<\/p>\n
“It was a very unusual situation, but unusual situations happen,” he said. “And I think at the end of the day, the problem with this legislation is you’re taking power and discretion away from judges to judge cases on the facts of the case.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n
Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/impaired-driving-legislation-c46-charter-1.4109942?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Liberal government has\u00a0mounted a pre-emptive defence of its contentious new impaired driving bill, arguing that mandatory breath samples will serve as a strong deterrent and will not violate constitutional rights. A charter statement from Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, tabled in the House of Commons today, outlines why the Liberals believe\u00a0Bill C-46 upholds the Charter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-77741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Tough new penalties for pot-impaired driving<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n