Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the discussion that’s going on in the House here. There is some debate on for and against rules or laws and legislation in the area of distractive driving and some Members have made it very clear that this is an issue that requires attention.
We all know there are many ways that attention can be taken away from focusing on the road ahead of you and that even a second of distraction can lead to loss of control of your vehicle or even worse. I guess the discussion and concern here is do we need more awareness on that issue or do we need more rules. Mr. Speaker, of course, we have rules in every aspect of our society. We have rules in this Chamber, for example, banning us from using cell phones during session. Sometimes that’s ignored. The question is then, Mr. Speaker, what is the attention that this issue requires to ensure that we’ve done everything in our power to ensure that our residents are safe. We need to look at some of the steps that we’ve already undertaken.
Of course, there’s a number of examples I can point to. First of all, within the ranks of the government, our employees are prohibited from using cell phones while driving on government business. We have the Drive Alive program, which has information on the department website on distracted driving, which provides effective strategies to improve driver safety when travelling. We also have the program Drive Alive that has incorporated distracted driving into some of its other campaigns, such as the bison awareness campaign. This raises the awareness of how distractions such as text messaging and other things can cause a collision. And we’ll continue to incorporate distracted driving messages into many of our campaigns that we will embark on in the future. We’re also in the process of undertaking a review of the Motor Vehicles Act and distracted driving was one of the issues that we intended to incorporate into that review.
Mr. Speaker, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I do not support creating legislation for the sake of
creating legislation. I need to see the proof. I support legislation if there’s a proven need for it. When we pass legislation we must, first of all, be satisfied that it addresses a need and, second of all, it’s capable of being enforced in our communities.
So there are a number of issues that we have to look at here when we talk about distracted driving. Some were raised as examples here today and there’s others that we can point to. Do we include mobile phones, for example? What does that mean in terms of our staff and who do we exempt, the RCMP and fire departments? Are there others? We have to look at all these things that are in front of us.
Mr. Speaker, a number of Members have pointed out what’s happening in other jurisdictions, and some jurisdictions have been raised as examples that are in the process of addressing their needs by legislation or already have embarked on that. There are other jurisdictions that have looked at the issue, that are not convinced that this is the way to go and they’re not convinced that legislation is the best alternative. I understand Alberta now has decided to move away from a legislative approach. They’re not convinced that legislation and regulation are the best way to go to achieve changes in driver behaviour, and that’s their decision.
I’ve already committed to a number of questions raised in this House to study the issue and to work with the RCMP, as well as consult with the communities across the Territories. When that process is complete, the decision will be made whether or not changes to the Motor Vehicles Act will be introduced. If changes are going to be introduced, of course we need to make choices on whether they will deal with the issue of distracted driving in general or do we look at only cell phones and other hand-held devices, text messaging specifically. Do we look at applying it across the board? Do we focus only on the communities that are requesting it, and there is, of course, already legislation in place that allows for that. I expect we’ll be in a position to make some of these decisions by the next legislative session.
Mr. Speaker, my priority, of course, is to continue on public information and awareness and I believe that it’s important that, whenever possible, people make changes in their driving behaviour, because they have been persuaded to do so. For that reason, I’ve asked our Drive Alive program to have a greater focus on distracted driving and we will be looking at using some additional resources to initiate that and make the changes proposed for this program.
Mr. Speaker, this is a recommendation to government and my colleagues, the Members of Cabinet, will be abstaining. Thank you.