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Stricter
Regulations, Safer Water Ways (21-4)
By Mark King
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 The
province of Ontario has taken a strong stance against
alcohol and boating. On June 22, 2006, the Ontario Legislature
passed Bill 209, a Private Member’s Bill that
now links the same penalty of drinking and driving a
motor vehicle in Ontario to the water.
For instance, if a boater is caught drinking and operating
a vessel, law enforcement officers can immediately prohibit
the offender from further operating the vessel and suspend
their driver's vehicle license for 12 hours. If the
subsequent breathalyzer test is failed, boaters can
have their driver's license suspended for 90 days, up
until a set court date and an appearance before a Justice
of the Peace. If the offender is convicted, boaters
can lose their Ontario driver’s license for one
year – the same penalties as drinking and driving
a motor vehicle.
Sponsored by Willowdale MPP David Zimmer, Bill 209,
which amends the Highway Traffic Act, is one more effective
step to keep Ontario waterways safe and help police
get impaired boaters off the province's countless lakes
and rivers.
“It was the last piece of legislation passed.
It passed at 4:30 pm just before the legislature rose
for the summer and the Lieutenant Governor came in and
gave it Royal Assent immediately,” explains Zimmer.
“This means it's in force for this summer.”
“In Ontario, alcohol is a factor in 40 percent
of recreational boating fatalities. In 2003, between
April and December, OPP Marine Units issued 1,923 charges
and warnings related to alcohol offences," said
Zimmer.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, it's an offence to
operate a vehicle, boat or airplane while impaired by
alcohol. A conviction could result in a suspension from
operating any of these vehicles. The province can also
suspend your license for any additional term it mandates
through the provisions provided in the Highway Traffic
Act.
“This is a huge deterrent factor,” says
Staff Sergeant Brad Schlorf of the Ontario Provincial
Police (O.P.P). “It's a positive move as far as
we are concerned.” Schlorf explained that in the
past when a boater was charged with impaired boating,
the judge would all too often suspend the person’s
ability to go boating for three months.
“When we laid charges in July and August, and
the court date was six to eight weeks later, people
were being suspended from boating for January, February
and March. For the O.P.P., this is just an extension
of their regular duties. All marine officers are on
traffic when they aren’t on the water. They are
doing this same work all year. It's easy for us to extend
it to the water.”
So what are the rules governing alcohol?
Essentially, open alcohol is not permitted on board
a boat unless the boat could be used as
a residence, and is equipped with sleeping, cooking
and washroom facilities. Additionally, consumption of
alcohol is not permitted on board a boat unless that
boat is tied to a dock or at anchor for the night. These
rules vary province by province.
While this is not the first attempt Ontario has made
to tie alcohol related offences directly to vehicle
licenses, other Private Member’s Bills were always
terminated on the Order Paper before they were debated
or passed. Members of the Ontario Legislature passed
Zimmer’s bill unanimously. And other provinces
have taken notice.
“We researched this before we presented it. This
is the first bill of its kind in Canada. Other provinces
have taken notice and have expressed an interest,”
he says.
Several eastern provinces and at least one western province
are prepared to introduce similar legislation, he believes.
Since recreational boating safety issues hit the national
stage last decade, police and other enforcement agencies
have been given several tools to help combat problem
boaters. The first were amendments to the Contraventions
Act in the mid 1990s providing officials with the authority
to write tickets on the water for many offences that
had formally been criminal charges. Previously, when
many of these charges had been criminal offences, police
and others were reluctant to charge people who would
subsequently end up with a criminal record.
Amendments to the Contraventions Act allowed the federal
government to use existing provincial and territorial
ticketing schemes to process minor federal offences.
They decriminalized minor federal regulatory offences,
removed uncontested cases from the courts and improved
the enforcement of fines. It helped enhance compliance
with federal legislation.
The Contraventions Act has since been enhanced and updated
and now includes a wide variety of offences that range
from equipment offences to careless operation. They
carry fines of usually less than $250.
You can review these offences on the internet by going
to http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-38.7/SOR-96-313/index.html.
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