Internal SQ documents show that Quebec’s annual highway death toll would be lowered by 10 to 14.
The provincial police force’s position is detailed in documents obtained by the Presse Canadienne through Access to Information requests.
The Legault government has repeatedly refused to impose administrative sanctions on drivers found with blood alcohol counts between .05 and .08, however that position is placing the province in an increasingly isolated position, according to the opposition Quebec Liberals.
According to projections made by the SQ based on results in Alberta and British Columbia, fatal collisions on Quebec’s highways would drop by 10 to 14 with a reduced threshold.
Projections made using results in Ontario would see Quebec’s death toll reduced by five.
However, recommendations made in the report were redacted in the documents obtained by the Presse Canadienne.
The decision to redact those recommendations is “terrible,” Liberal MNA Monsef Derraji said.
“The minister (of public security) François Bonnardel must end his silence. Will he continue to play the ostrich and keep the documents redacted?”
Derraji also noted that Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault did not make public a report from the SAAQ that found reducing the rate to .05 would be a “productive measure.”
Guilbault claimed not to have read the report.
Coroner Yvon Garneau recommended in 2021 that reducing the limit be considered. Since then, three other coroners have flat-out called for it to be reduced.
Proposed legislation tabled by Derraji to reduce the rate and has been ignored by the government.