MADD Canada: ‘Disappointed with lack of progress by provinces’

MADD Canada
News Release

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National Release - Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD Canada) today released a progress report on the performance of Canada’s Provinces and Territories in making roads safer from impaired driving. The Rating the Provinces 2008 Progress Report suggests that there have been few gains in developing effective legislation to address impaired driving by Canada’s jurisdictions in the last 12 months.

“Frankly, MADD Canada is disappointed with the lack of progress by provinces and territories in this past year,” says MADD Canada’s CEO, Andrew Murie. “Only Quebec and New Brunswick have introduced important legislative changes. Nova Scotia, Ontario and P.E.I. still need to implement key provisions of the legislation they enacted last year. Manitoba continues to work on their 2007 reforms. As for the rest, there is plenty that needs to be addressed from MADD Canada’s last comprehensive legislative review in 2006.”

“There are jurisdictions – namely, B.C., Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon – that need to take a serious look at what is occurring across Canada and introduce progressive legislation that will save lives and reduce impaired driving on their roads,” says Mr. Murie.

The 2008 Progress Report outlines the legislative progress that the provinces and territories have made in the last 12 months as benchmarked in the organization’s Rating the Provinces and Territories: The 2006 Report Card. The report rates New Brunswick and Quebec as ‘Setting a Good Example’. It rates Nova Scotia as ‘Promising.’ A total of 10 jurisdictions were rated as ‘Needs Improvement’: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

Professor Robert Solomon, Director of Legal Policy for MADD Canada and lead-author of the report comments, ““The true value of our Rating the Provinces project is the blueprint that it provides for governments to adopt better impaired driving laws. There are good examples of impaired driving laws and practices in our country, and the provinces and territories need only look at each other’s legislation to find effective measures to reduce the incidence of impaired driving tragedies.”

“We hope that all jurisdictions look at the examples now being set in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and at the legislation passed last year in Manitoba,” says Professor Solomon.

The public can view The 2008 Progress Report and other materials relating to the Rating the Provinces report from a link off the top page of the MADD Canada website – www.madd.ca

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