QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Drug-Impaired Driving
February 14, 2023
Leader, Public Safety Canada recently released its annual report on trends and patterns in drug-impaired driving. It shows that police reported 7,454 drug-impaired driving incidents in 2021 — an almost 60% increase in such incidents since 2018 when cannabis was legalized.
The report shows that daily cannabis users are more likely to think cannabis use does not impair driving. Only 25% of Canadians believe it is very likely they will get caught if they drive under the influence of cannabis.
The report points to a B.C. study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine which showed that people injured while driving under the influence of drugs had higher THC levels in their blood since legalization.
Leader, many concerns that honourable senators have raised during our study of Bill C-45 and Bill C-46 have come to pass. How does your government respond to the report’s findings?
I do not know what the government’s response to the report is.
I can say the following: First of all, drug-impaired driving was a problem that pre-existed the legalization of cannabis. No one assumed for a moment, in this chamber or elsewhere, that legalization would eliminate that problem.
A number of things have changed: increased attention to the detection of impaired driving, specifically drug-impaired driving; one hopes there’s stringent prosecution where such has been found and established by the evidence to be the case; and, of course, at least in some jurisdictions, increased sophisticated tests to determine and detect when somebody may be driving while impaired by drugs.
It is a serious problem. That’s why the government introduced changes to the Criminal Code, which helped assist law enforcement in detecting those who may have been driving after having consumed cannabis and its related substances.
The government, working with the provinces and territories, will continue to do what it can to keep Canadians safe on the road.
Honourable senator, it is not the position of the government that the legalization of cannabis is the driving force behind this, admittedly, serious problem affecting the safety and security of Canadians.
This report also shows that, while the number of drug-impaired driving incidents increased, the number of active officers trained as drug recognition experts — speaking of testing — has decreased. There were 68 fewer of these officers across Canada in 2021 compared to the previous year.
Leader, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, capacity limits were placed on the number of officers that could be trained at certification events.
Could you make inquiries and let us know if the capacity limits have been lifted? What will your government do to ensure more officers receive this training, and are active in communities across our country?
I will certainly make inquiries. Thank you for the question.
