Whitehorse Daily Star

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CHANGES AT THE CHECK STOPS – Shown left to right at Wednesday’s media briefing are Carlos Sanchez-Aguirre of the Whitehorse chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Crown prosecutor Leo Lane and RCMP Staff Sgt. Jane Boissonneault.

Impaired drivers to pay higher fines

Police will soon be getting new authority to ask for breathalyzer samples from drivers subject to any traffic stop or check stop.

By Gord Fortin on December 13, 2018

Police will soon be getting new authority to ask for breathalyzer samples from drivers subject to any traffic stop or check stop.

These new powers will come into effect next Tuesday with Bill C-46. The bill was passed last June, but included a six-month transition period.

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the RCMP and the Whitehorse chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) held a press conference on Wednesday to explain all the changes on the horizon.

Crown prosecutor Leo Lane said the overall offence of drunk driving will not be changing, but some of the guidelines on the legal limits will be.

Once the new law becomes active, it will become illegal to drive at an 80 mg blood alcohol reading or higher.

Under the previous law, anything over 80 was illegal but anything at that level or under was not.

The new legislation has created two new offences.

The first is driving under the influence of drugs. This law covers several substances. Lane said these include THC, cocaine, heroin, meth, GHB and others. Both THC and GHB have prescribed limits.

Having any detectable amount of cocaine, heroin or meth in your system constitutes an offence.

The second new offence combines impairment by both alcohol and THC.

Under this charge, the limit for alcohol will drop to 50 mg and 2.5 nanograms of THC in their blood.

Police will have access to a device that will test drivers for drugs.

The device detects substances in the person’s saliva. A driver who fails this test could have to submit a blood sample for analysis if there is reasonable suspicion.

Lane clarified that the person who collects the blood sample will be designated by the Attorney General of Canada.

“It won’t be RCMP officers,” he said.

The blood sample cannot be taken if it endangers the person’s health.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Jane Boissonneault said there will be one testing device sent to the Yukon.

Its arrival date is unknown.

Lane next addressed the new police powers.

As of next Tuesday, police will be able to demand a test from any driver they stop. Under the outgoing law, officers could only demand breath samples if they had reasonable suspicion that the driver was impaired.

Lane said these new powers are useful because it’s been proved that police do not apprehend every impaired driver at check stops.

Since these drivers may not show signs of impairment, an officer does not have reasonable suspicion.

Similar laws have been put in place in more than 40 countries, including Ireland and Australia, according to Lane.

He said the law has been in place for decades in Australia, which has reported a significant decrease in deaths on the roads.

In Canada, Parliament is expecting this law to save lives.

“It’s been proven that the provision reduces fatalities and injuries,” Lane said.

He would clarify that the powers are not unlimited. Police must act in the lawful exercise of their powers for it to be used.

Officers can only use these powers against the individual driving the vehicle in question.

This means, he explained, that police must find the person in control of the vehicle to demand a breath sample. A second-hand account of who was driving does not give police any authority.

The bill will see changes to sentencing for those convicted, with the minimum fines rising.

The fine for a first offence for impaired driving will remain $1,000.

The sanctions for testing 120 mg will go up to $1,500; testing at 160 mg will be $2,000; and refusing to give a breath sample will land you a $2,000 fine.

Carlos Sanchez-Aguirre, the Whitehorse MADD treasurer, said Wednesday the organization is here to work with the authorities to ensure public safety. He stressed that victims face serious consequences as a result of drunk driving.

Families are torn apart and victims end up facing permanent, life-changing issues.

Sanchez-Aguirre said the new legislation is welcome because it will help keep people safe.

Lane said impaired driving is a common offence that goes to trial. He theorized people are trying to fight the mandatory driving prohibition.

He added that the offence tends to cross all social and economic segments of the population.

He did not have the exact numbers of how many trials have taken place for this offence in the Yukon.

“A lot of our time is spent going to trial on these cases,” Lane said.

Under the outgoing law, he explained, defendants could challenge the officer’s grounds to demand a sample. Under the new law, this will no longer be possible.

The Crown expects to see more Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenges stemming from the new legislation. Lane himself anticipates someone will challenge the constitutionality of the law at some point.

“Charter challenges are inevitable,” he said.

He reminded everyone that driving is a privilege, not a right. It’s also a highly-regulated activity. He pointed out that no Charter right is absolute because Section 1 outlines the limitations.

Overall, Lane felt this could save court resources and time, though he could not estimate the latter.

Boissonneault said drivers can expect to see more roadside tests as of next Tuesday. She said police do have discretion, and there is no policy as to who can or cannot be screened for drugs at any given time during a check stop.

“It’s very likely we could have every person coming through that check stop blow in the approved screening device,” she said.

Boissonneault said she realizes this may cause some resentment from motorists who pass the tests.

She said these people need to remember that police are trying to keep the roads safe for everyone – including those who resent the test.

“It’s not always just yourself,” she said. “It’s the other drivers that can be a danger to you.”

She believes the RCMP are well-equipped and trained for the change.

Police have 39 devices for roadside breath tests and 15 for tests at the detachment. These cover the entire territory.

Comments (21)

Up 0 Down 0

Shanon on Dec 31, 2018 at 12:15 am

I'll be honest almost everyone commenting has been drinking and behind the wheel at least once in their lives. So you complain about others and beg for increases in fines and jail only because you've never been caught yourself or perhaps changed your ways but who are you to judge others?
All the MADD have driven drunk at least once in their lives as well whether it was when they where 16 or 50. Sad that it takes the loss of a loved one for them to change their outlook of drinking and driving. It's the reality of it.
The new breathalyzer laws are just going to be police abusing their powers. If a police officer couldn't do a normal roadside test, can't smell alcohol, use their own judgment to tell if someone's drunk they shouldn't be a police officer then. Their detective senses are not up to par. They're are going to throw out all of that for a breathalyzer that you as a driver hope that they get serviced every 6 months if not sooner.

Up 6 Down 2

Rural Resident on Dec 19, 2018 at 2:23 am

Just wait, random stops near a few drinking establishments and after 1 am and also on the trails with the ATVs moving between homes, there will be many people caught.

Up 22 Down 2

Groucho d'North on Dec 17, 2018 at 12:17 pm

I'd like the Justice department to post a total of monies collected in fines each year. How much revenue is government making on the misadventures of people? I say this in the context that violators are fined for when they cause harm or injury to others as in a motor vehicle collision, yet the injured parties do not recieve these monies, the government does and for what? I believe the victims should be compensated before government gets even a penny.

Up 10 Down 14

Gringo on Dec 16, 2018 at 10:10 am

JOSEY......lost you at Hmm!!!! LOL

Up 21 Down 5

Josey Wales on Dec 15, 2018 at 7:28 am

Hmmm....how will this ride down the pandered slippery slope of stoners go?
Not well, I suggest.
When you are a hammer everything you CHOOSE to see, is a nail.
No special powers needed to cease driving portable fortresses past public drunks...of any shade or arrival date.
No special powers required to enforce THEE most basic of traffic laws.
No special powers needed much, as seemingly our state actors are Teflon coated and have acted so for decades.
Seems we now reside in the not withstanding clause of our alleged first world freedoms, some get a crazy carpet ( can we still call them that?), some get guided by a government sanctioned ski team aaaaaalllll the way down...lest they get snow on the deerskin, and many others it seems just get launched off a precipice.

Another point certainly engineered outta the conversation....
Is folks residing here in Canadastan, funding this ride into the rocks at the bottom, are thanks to our himbos team pandering during its shell game,
More vetted at the roadside via state actors, the very same ones that....UNVETTED....carry luggage for wave after wave of 3rd world invaders.
Yes folks, seventh century sycophants are more respected by our political windbags and state actors than many of the ancestors left behind....whose kin lay dead all over the globe to have “our freedoms”.

Every piece of the mess was and is engineered by elites so so outta touch that insanity does not do it justice.
I encourage all to record every second of every interaction with our himbos enforcers, and stay in your vehicle.
Obviously do not drive under any influence, but that ranks up there with ...
No stabbing folks...
No raping folks...
No looting goods that are not yours...
No projecting violence....
...in general no savage behaviour in our alleged civilized “lawful” society.
I got that memo a long time ago, and need no mentoring.
However it seems it was with not translated into the appropriate languages of alleged Turtle Island history, nor it seems a clear one for all the....
Unvetted 3rd world.
What a freaking mess in what is left of Canada’s kitchen.
Please folks, we need to make Canada great again.
Tossing that pandering himbo outta suxxex is paramount to said need.
OJW wishing all whom care...a merry Christmas
To those offended by said term, enjoy the ride.....as the rocks do not discriminate.

Up 12 Down 3

Jack Bootte on Dec 14, 2018 at 7:53 pm

@ Max Mack -
The world has turned and we are headed down a long digression. Fascism in the name of equality of outcome has been loosed upon the land:

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/opinion/were-all-fascists-now.amp.html

Up 7 Down 11

Juniper Jackson on Dec 14, 2018 at 5:30 pm

I tend to see the same people drinking and driving all the time.. repeat offenders in court.. there are several studies out that say sanctions against impaired driving work, with a 26% rate of recidivism. Victoria did a study https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322750411_THE_EFFECT_OF_SANCTIONS_ON_VICTORIAN_DRINK-DRIVERS that concluded if sanctions were too harsh, people just continued to drive without a license and reoffend.. if the sanctions were too lenient, same thing.. that there was a middle road in the sanctions criteria that had a bigger better impact. (It's in this report) The goal is to get impaired drivers off the road.. that is the goal for 15 year olds AND adults. Alberta is taking impaired driving out of criminal law https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/drunk-driving-laws-decriminalize-2018-changes-police-licence-1.4468021 as it hasn't been effective in curbing the recidivism rates. All of this is what I see happening..

Personally, I think even once is too many, and a habitual impaired driver? Life in prison. Where there is a death.. life in prison. Tell me.. all those impaired drivers getting life in prison..was it worth the drink?

Up 8 Down 10

Mary J R Stones on Dec 14, 2018 at 12:59 pm

Judge Judy is looking for new ways to beef up the numbers in her Cannibis Wellness Club Kangaroo Court.

I went through the program twice and still drive while I’m impaired. She just helps me to keep it a secret. Shhh... Do not tell the public that we still drink, do drugs and steal stuff... It’s nice to get the congratulations, the pats on the back while receiving mitigated sentences for my insincere efforts!

The neat thing about the Cannibis Wellness Club Court is that my lawyer can say anything and the judge will believe it.

“Ah Keep your eyes on the road,
Your hands upon the wheel.
Keep your eyes on the road
Your hands upon the wheel.
Yeah, we're going to the roadhouse,
Gonna have a real good-time”

Your friend Jimmy

Up 14 Down 8

ProScience Greenie on Dec 14, 2018 at 12:48 pm

Agreed Max Mack.

We all 100% have the right to go get a driver's licence and drive the roads of this country where and when we want as long as we follow the rules of the road. It becomes a privilege if you screw up and that privilege can be restricted or denied. Don't be so quick to turn basic rights into privileges as authoritarian types of all political stripes never met a right that they didn't want to curb or eliminate.

Not sure about any constitutional challenges to this random check stop stuff. Time will tell. One thing that will be going to the highest courts is the THC limits being set. To date there is very little science and common sense involved with that.

In the big picture, if Harper and the social conservatives would have listened to the majority of Canadians, including many conservative voters, he would have decriminalized or legalized weed for adult use and taken the wind out of Trudeau's sails last election. Maybe enough that he would have won. It's more than obvious that those in the Harper wing of the CPC do not have a small 'l' libertarian streak that many claim. They own a big part of this new police state nonsense.

Up 19 Down 40

Thank You Stoners on Dec 14, 2018 at 10:58 am

We can no longer drive home safely after having a few cocktails to decompress from the day at the office. Thank you stoners for bringing the heat on impaired driving. Now there will be road-stops at any time of the day and not just the times that everyone knew to avoid.

Stoners - Happily bringing you the police state to your front doors!

Up 29 Down 16

Max Mack on Dec 14, 2018 at 10:18 am

Judging by all the thumbs up on comments approving of these new laws, I fear that folks simply do not understand what is at stake here.

There is NO serious, objective scientific evidence to show that these measures reduce fatalities or serious injuries due to impaired driving. Most all "studies" purporting to show significant decreases in impaired driving deaths come from or are funded by the very organizations that are advocating for such changes.

The police already have all the tools they need to assess impaired driving. Evidence shows that drivers who cause fatalities and serious injury to others are typically extremely impaired - trained police officers should have no problem identifying these drivers with existing laws, processes and tools.

The problem here is that police do not want to take the time to properly form reasonable suspicion. Enter the new laws, which strip away your constitutional protections in the name of "public safety". This is simply lazy policing.

Worse, the new laws set arbitrarily low thresholds for alcohol and drug impairment. These thresholds have no scientifically defensible relationship to impairment. People will be convicted as criminals under these new draconian laws, their lives will be ruined - even though they are not impaired. Additionally, the saliva testing devices are known to have a high false positive rate.

"Show me your papers" was also done in the interest of "public safety and security". Enjoy your police state.

Up 23 Down 5

Groucho d'North on Dec 14, 2018 at 7:56 am

They still don't have a roadside sign for stupid. That would fix a lot of the problems on our roads.

Up 23 Down 9

Kj on Dec 14, 2018 at 3:04 am

I’m in favour of policing. I am very against impaired driving. I believe driving is a privilege not a right. I am also in favour of probable cause, or even suspicion. Depending on how it is used, not sure how I feel about this.
The bar for demanding a breath sample is already incredibly low. I feel it was appropriate.
Random Door knocks at our homes for urine tests next?

Up 14 Down 14

Kluane on Dec 13, 2018 at 10:13 pm

They didn't address drinking while using off road vehicles.

Up 25 Down 9

Rural Resident on Dec 13, 2018 at 5:03 pm

....uck impaired drivers!

There are many people here who drive impaired more often then not. ...uck them!
Let's not hear from the cry babies who think they have a right to get a pass for their destructive behaviour.

Up 55 Down 1

Yukoner73 on Dec 13, 2018 at 4:09 pm

What about Tylenol 3's? Atasol 30's? Ativan? Flexril? Oxycodone? Hydrocodone? etc..

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/motr/opioids-and-driving-a-prescription-for-crashes.html

Up 41 Down 8

Fredia on Dec 13, 2018 at 3:41 pm

I say Bravo!!!

Up 49 Down 9

Great news on Dec 13, 2018 at 3:39 pm

This is great news. No sympathy for drunk, stoned, texting or otherwise...driving is privilege, required for most jobs, so cherish your privilege.

Up 40 Down 6

Bob Ablanalp on Dec 13, 2018 at 3:30 pm

"He reminded everyone that driving is a privilege, not a right"

BUT BUT BUT - red light running, crosswalk crashing and cell phone yaking while driving are a "right" on Second and Fourth Avenue

Up 38 Down 14

Tater on Dec 13, 2018 at 3:29 pm

Good but should go farther. Fine for first offense should be $2500 and 2 year suspension. Second offence $10,000 and permanent cancelation of licence. If a driver kills someone, automatic charge of Manslaughter.
People need to take responsibility for their actions. There is absolutely no excuse for driving under the influence!

Up 39 Down 18

Guilty.... on Dec 13, 2018 at 3:23 pm

....until proven innocent.

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