Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Issue 19 - Ninth Report of the Committee
Thursday, December 14, 2006
The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has the honour to present its
NINTH REPORT
Your Committee, to which was referred Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (street racing) and to make a consequential amendment to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, has, in obedience to the Order of Reference of Tuesday, November 21, 2006, examined the said Bill and now reports the same without amendment.
Your Committee appends to this report certain observations relating to the Bill.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald H. Oliver
Chair
Observations to the Ninth Report of the
Standing Senate Committee on Legal
and Constitutional Affairs
(Bill C-19)
Your Committee is in favour of addressing directly the problem of street racing in Canada. It has, therefore, approved Bill C-19 without amendment. We do, however, have some concerns with how the bill may be implemented.
We understand that the bill does not apply to races organized by a recognized sanctioning body and subject to all applicable laws. The Minister of Justice told the Committee ``Bill C-19 would not include legitimate motor sport activities. It will not criminalize races that occur on closed tracks, circuits, or streets closed to the public, or to rallies sanctioned by recognized motor sport authorities and conducted in accordance with the law.'' The Minister cited the Targa Newfoundland race as an example of what would not be included in Bill C-19.
Your Committee therefore requests the Department of Justice to monitor the implementation of Bill C-19 to ensure that it is not used to criminalize currently legal, sanctioned racing. We request that a copy of these observations be forwarded to the Department of Justice so that it may carry out this monitoring function.