Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is essentially a safety issue. We’re talking about avoiding injuries and, worse, property damage and so on. There is overwhelming data now supporting the need for this sort of action. Although it was initially suppressed by industry, and apparently long enough to really get things entrenched, the information is now overwhelming in volume and absolutely clear. In fact, the experience in Yellowknife and other areas of cell phone use reflect that.
I had a number of constituents and residents contact me and they were all in support of this. One mentioned an experience where she walked around the airport loop here in Yellowknife and had started to tally up, and I think she had over 30 cases of seeing individuals drive by on cell phones and she said she had at least a couple of close calls where she had to really step quickly out of the way.
Canadian jurisdictions are moving again en masse to adopt this sort of legislation and it’s happening internationally as well, applying these sorts of restrictions for the benefit of all.
Our accident rates in the Northwest Territories have recently shown a sudden and sharp increase and distraction has been mentioned as one of the causes of that. Mr. Speaker, do we need a law that penalizes or, indeed, jails someone for causing known harm or death because they are engrossed in a phone conversation? Perhaps. But more importantly is the prevention that such a law would bring. Prevention, to me, will always be my preferred alternative option when we have it.
Mr. Speaker, we are creating a recommendation here, not a law. This is step one in a long process and can deal with all kinds of details in the process. So in summary, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this motion. Mahsi.