Quebec couple speaking up about tougher drunk driving laws after political controversy
Days after being thrust into a political controversy at the national assembly, Quebec couple Antoine Bittar and Élizabeth Rivera are speaking out — not about being asked to pay $200 to meet the transport minister but to advocate for safer road laws.
Last week, the husband and wife who lost their daughter, Jessica, to a drunk driver in 2017 revealed to a parliamentary committee that they paid $100 each to speak for a total of four minutes with Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault last fall at a cocktail after receiving an invitation from her office.
They had desperately wanted to talk about changing Quebec's blood-alcohol limit so they agreed to pay the fee. But amid the Coalition Avenir Quebec's (CAQ) wider fundraising controversy, the party offered to reimburse the couple.
Bittar and Rivera are now trying to turn everyone's attention to what they were fighting for in the first place — having Quebec introduce administrative sanctions for drivers caught behind the wheel with a blood-alcohol level of 0.05. Right now, sanctions are only considered under the Criminal Code when someone reaches a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher.
"We're trying to save lives and we're trying to avoid other families to pass through what we passed," Bittar said in an interview with CTV News. "It's impossible to explain to people what it is [like] to lose a child."
They want to see changes to Quebec's Highway Safety Code to set administrative penalties, such as fines and temporary licence suspensions, for people caught driving in the warn range, which would be between 0.05 and 0.079.
What drives the couple in their advocacy is their daughter's memory, which they are hoping to honour by making changes they say could have prevented the tragic crash that ended her life.
"It's not extreme. It's just a warning. Once you get caught with this and you have to pay $1,000, the next time you're going to think about it. You'll say, 'What? $1,000? I could have paid $50 for a taxi.'"
Ontario, like other provinces, has sanctions for the warn range starting at 0.05. For a first offence, a driver who fails the roadside test must pay a $250 penalty and have their licences suspended for three days. They also have to pay for a licence reinstatement fee.
All provinces and territories, except Quebec and Yukon, have administrative sanctions for blood-alcohol limits below the 0.08 threshold, according to a petition tabled in the Quebec legislature last November calling for the new law.
Marianne Dessurealt, the head of legal affairs at the Association pour la santé publique du Québec (ASPQ), supports the proposed legislation. She said there is data showing that the possibility of a fatal collision increases four to six times at the 0.05 level or higher and that most impaired driving collisions involve first-time offenders, rather than recidivists.
An administrative sanction is not a criminal one, she says, comparing it to a speeding ticket.
"At 0.05 it's really a statement and a warning range so we need to understand that as a population, as a community. It's a warning range, between which you could understand what is it, exactly, because 0.08 you don't exactly know how many drinks you could have. But if you pass that point you have a criminal record possibly. And before that, it's a warning so it's a chance to gauge yourself," she said.
M.A.D.D. Montreal spokesperson Theresa-Anne Krame is also in favour of changing the road safety laws in Quebec.
"It works. in B.C., it lowered the death rate dramatically and we want to have that same effect here in Quebec, and yet we're being denied it," she said.
Guilbault's office did not respond to CTV News' request for comment by publication time on Saturday.
Rivera and Bittar say they can't understand why the minister refuses to lower the limit.
"That's what we're asking all the time: can you please tell us why?" said Bittar. "Let's talk about it."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'The world is too messy for bureaucratic hurdles': Canada still bars Afghanistan aid
Ottawa has plans to finally stop blocking Canadian development aid to Afghanistan this year.
Student anti-war protesters dig in as faculties condemn university leadership over calling police
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war at at universities across U.S., some of whom have clashed with police in riot gear, dug in Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going, while several school faculties condemned university presidents who have called in law enforcement to remove protesters.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Hamas is reviewing an Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, as possible Rafah offensive looms
Hamas said Saturday it was reviewing a new Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, as Egypt intensified efforts to broker a deal to end the months-long war and stave off a possible Israeli ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Cisco reveals security breach, warns of state-sponsored spy campaign
State-sponsored actors targeted security devices used by governments around the world, according to technology firm Cisco Systems, which said the network devices are coveted intrusion points by spies.
I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'oesn't get' the global phenomenom.
opinion RFK Jr.'s presidential candidacy and its potential threat to Biden and Trump
Although it's still unclear how much damage Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy can do to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump this election, Washington political columnist Eric Ham says what is clear is both sides recognize the potential threat.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Russia renews attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector as Kyiv launches drones at southern Russia
Russia launched a barrage of missiles against Ukraine overnight, in attacks that appeared to target the country's energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Russia said its air defense systems had intercepted more than 60 Ukrainian drones over the southern Krasnodar region.