As the federal government moves to tighten impaired driving laws ahead of the legalization of marijuana, it’s also clearing up a grey area in the Criminal Code that has seen police hand out drunk driving charges to tipsy canoeists. Police can still lay other charges for being intoxicated in public, but impaired driving charges trigger harsh provincial penalties such as automatic driver’s licence suspensions, steep fines, demerit points, ignition unlocking devices and vehicle impoundment. Last spring, Ontario Provincial Police laid impaired driving charges against a 27-year-old man who was allegedly drunk and tipped a canoe on the Muskoka River near Bracebridge. Currently, the Criminal Code stipulates that road vehicles need to be motorized to qualify under impaired driving laws. He said the intention of criminal impaired driving laws is to target those who are endangering the public, and that drunk canoeists who cause a death could still be charged under other criminal sections, such as negligence.

Source: National Post September 28, 2017 16:18 UTC