Mr. Chairman, it's my pleasure to appear before Committee of the Whole this afternoon to consider the proposed impaired driving amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act. These new deterrents to impaired driving were first proposed in the 1990s as part of a national initiative entitled "Strategy to Reduce Impaired Driving." The Council of Ministers responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety endorsed the strategy, and the Ministers committed to enacting them in their provincial and territorial jurisdictions.

These amendments are aimed at striking the Motor Vehicles Act with some forceful measures to discourage drinking and driving. Driving a motor vehicle is a serious undertaking; it needs our full attention. The consumption of alcohol impairs our mental judgment and diminishes our physical reflexes.

Impaired drivers run a much higher risk of being involved in a motor vehicle accident. The risk is not only to themselves, but to those they are with and everyone else with whom they share the road. It is an unacceptable and unnecessary risk.

These tougher impaired driving measures do not mean that the police will now attach a greater priority to impaired driving offences ahead of their other policing responsibilities, such as violent crime, theft or fraud, et cetera, nor do the amendments imply that we need more officers to enforce them. The importance of the new amendments is that they give our police officers more and better tools to deter impaired driving. Until now, the Criminal Code and its .08 percent blood alcohol content limit was the only deterrent available to the police to discourage impaired driving. With these amendments, the police will also have the territorial Motor Vehicles Act available to them with the proposed new administrative licence suspensions and lower .05 percent blood alcohol content. The new measures will make our existing enforcement capacity that much more effective.

Mr. Chairman, I want to say that I have been pleased with the positive reception these amendments have enjoyed, both by my fellow Members of the Legislative Assembly and the public at large. More and more drivers these days have come to understand that drinking and driving just don't mix. Regrettably, there are still those who have not yet received the message that society no longer tolerates drinking and driving.

Our message in these amendments is clear. Drinking and driving don't mix, and we hope that these amendments will help persuade drivers not to do it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.