A West Island couple’s attempt to advocate for a cause they have been supporting for years that got swept up last week in the growing pay-to-play scandal engulfing the CAQ government say they want to keep the focus on their mission – persuading provincial authorities to impose stricter drunk-driving regulations.
But Roxboro resident Elizabeth Rivera acknowledges the revelation she made during a hearing last Thursday before a National Assembly hearing examining Bill 48 that aims to amend Quebec’s Highway Safety Code has attracted more attention than all of their lobbying efforts to date. Yet, she refuses to be distracted, pointing out that she has still not received a reason why Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault refuses to lower the drunk-driving threshold, leaving Quebec as the only province in Canada that has not dropped the limit to 0.05 for administrative regulations that would permit a driver’s licence to be suspended or have a vehicle impounded.
“They never gave us a clear reason why,” Rivera said in an interview with The 1510 West on Sunday. “We ask the question: Tell us why. Why are we the last province? They don’t want to change it. And we don’t understand why.”
Although the federal Criminal Code makes it a criminal offence to drive with a blood-alcohol concentration of 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, a measurement that is referred to as 0.08, all provinces except Quebec impose administrative regulations that permit a motorist’s driver’s permit to be suspended or their vehicle to be temporarily impounded if they are found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.05.
Rivera, who is the president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Montreal, said she and her husband, Antoine Bittar, have been pushing for Quebec to strengthen its administrative sanctions so that drivers testing at 0.05 or above have their cars seized for up to seven days and their driver’s permits suspended for seven days. These measures would not affect the 0.08 threshold that would trigger criminal sanctions.
Rivera argues that stricter administrative regulations that would come with non-criminal sanctions like in the other provinces would have a preventative effect.
If a driver has their licence suspended for seven days, “the next time the person drinks, they will think,” Rivera said.
“Why aren’t we doing prevention?” she asked, pointing out that the statistics from other provinces that have made the move have seen a drop in alcohol-related deaths.
In British Columbia, she said, alcohol-related deaths on the roads have dropped by 52 per cent since the province dropped the limit to 0.05. In Saskatchewan, the limit has been dropped to 0.04.
Rivera urges everyone to sign the electronic petition that is registered with the National Assembly in support of MADD’s demand.
Sponsored by West Island MNA Monsef Derraji, the petition can be found on the legislature’s website: assnat.qc.ca.
To find the petition, look for the tab in the centre of the page that is part of the blue heading that says “Exprimez votre opinion!” Click on Petitions: “Signer un petition électronique.” Scroll down the list of petitions until you see the one sponsored by Derraji entitled: “Ajout de mesures visant à prévenir la conduit avec les facultés affaiblies par l’alcool.”