(Quebec) After discussions in caucus, the Legault government maintains its refusal to impose administrative sanctions on drivers as soon as their blood alcohol level reaches 0.05.
Quebec is the only Canadian province not to have such a measure in its arsenal against drunk driving.
The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, thus rules out the tabling of an amendment to add this tool in her reform of the Road Safety Code under study in the National Assembly. The government remains inflexible despite the relaunch of the debate on 0.05 which was provoked by a controversy over its party’s financing methods last week.
In the middle of a parliamentary committee on the road safety bill, a couple revealed that they were invited by an employee of a CAQ MP to pay $200 to meet Geneviève Guilbault at a Coalition fundraising cocktail future Quebec. Elizabeth Rivera and Antoine Bittar, whose daughter was killed in a road accident caused by drunk driving, are campaigning for Quebec to join the other Canadian provinces and adopt 0.05.
The party apologized to the couple and refunded their $200 donation. But basically, he refuses to agree with him.
This is another occasion where 0.05 hits a wall in the National Assembly.
The Charest government attempted twice, in 2007 and 2010, to impose a 24-hour suspension of the driving license of a motorist whose blood alcohol level is between 0.05 and 0.08. Each time he had backed down in the face of the discontent of the restaurateurs and the loud cries of the opposition parties.
The Quebec Road Safety Table, chaired by Jean-Marie de Koninck, recommended such a measure in 2009 since “its impact on the road toll is undeniable and since the implementation of this measure contributes to reducing the number of victims caused by drunk driving.
Note that the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, responded to the parliamentary press on Wednesday that adopting 0.05 would not be harmful to trade.
In 2010, the Institute of Public Health also recommended 0.05. “The scientific literature is unanimous on the effect of lowering the legal blood alcohol level on road collisions.” “Performance when driving a motor vehicle is negatively affected from a blood alcohol level of 50 mg/100 ml.” At this rate, the risk of collision causing serious injury or even death is “significantly multiplied”, he added.
In 2017, the Couillard government ruled out this option when it reviewed the Highway Safety Code. Transport Minister André Fortin – still Liberal MP for Pontiac – argued that it is better to be more severe against repeat drunk driving offenders. However at the time, the Ministry of Justice suggested that Quebec follow the example of the other provinces and adopt 0.05, according to a document that The Press had obtained.
Today, Liberal MP Monsef Derraji intends to table a bill so that Quebec adopts 0.05. He is presenting a motion this Wednesday for the National Assembly to vote in favor of this measure. This motion will be put to a vote on Thursday. But the CAQ majority will reject it, according to what was decided at the end of a meeting of its caucus.
Like the PLQ, Québec solidaire is in favor of 0.05. The Parti Québécois responds for its part that “there is nothing on that in (its) program” at the moment. “We are discussing it, we are open,” said chef Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.