I’m delighted to follow my colleague the Minister of Transportation and speak on Bill 197.

I want to congratulate my colleague the Minister of Transportation, the Associate Minister of Transportation and the parliamentary assistant for continuing the government’s message that public safety matters. It matters to Ontarians morning, noon and night.

When the minister just spoke, he spoke of the government’s commitment to extend our confidence in public safety by addressing a few issues that are very important.

The minister spoke about those people who think it’s okay to steal our cars; it’s not. And regardless of where we sit in this chamber, we all agree that no one should confront somebody knocking down their door at 5 in the morning who demands that the keys be turned over so they can steal our cars and send them off to another place in the world. This is completely unacceptable.

And when I stood with the Minister of Transportation just a couple of weeks ago, we highlighted that for those people who steal the cars, there would be maximum sentencing of suspending licences. The minister spoke of that, and I want to thank him.

Madam Speaker, I want to talk for a minute about why stealing cars is so unacceptable and why Bill 197 makes consequences for people who think it’s okay. Let me take you back to the recent auto theft summit in Ottawa.

Madame la Présidente, comme je l’ai dit récemment, lors de la conférence à Ottawa sur le vol des voitures, je prends la sécurité publique très au sérieux. Nous sommes préoccupés par l’augmentation récente des vols de voitures. Je suis préoccupé par l’augmentation de la criminalité. Mais, en même temps, notre gouvernement propose des solutions et des stratégies pour assurer la sécurité de l’Ontario.

When I went to that conference, it became obvious that we have an auto theft crisis. Bill 197 acknowledges this threat to our inherent right to live safely in our communities.

Again, I want to say, and I’ve said this before, we’ve never had a Premier, we’ve never had a government in my lifetime that has prioritized public safety more than our government, led by Premier Ford. And thanks to the minister and the associate minister, we have prioritized having some of the safest roads in North America.

Our new legislation would improve safety and protect families and communities by targeting road users who engage in reckless behaviour, including impaired driving and stunt driving, as well as those convicted of auto theft. And that is absolutely a preoccupation of this government—eradicating auto theft. Nobody should be confronted with having their car stolen, and this government is doing something about it.

The Safer Roads and Communities Act, if passed, would also introduce measures to improve safety for e-bike users and enhance commercial vehicle enforcement.

Impairment still exists in our communities, and it’s totally unacceptable. A driver’s reflexes and decision-making abilities are slowed, making it difficult to react quickly to sudden changes or hazards on the road, such as pedestrians and other vehicles. This often leads to risky driving behaviour such as speeding, aggressive driving or failure to obey traffic signals.

When speaking to police services, we see that impaired drivers are more likely to be involved in high-speed or head-on collisions, which tend to result in more severe injuries or fatalities. The aftermath of such accidents involving impaired drivers has profound consequences on the families. And I have to tell you, too many of us in this chamber have heard stories of people who have been impacted by somebody who was drunk or impaired and should not have been behind that wheel.

That’s why this government is introducing legislation that, if passed, would implement the toughest sanctions in Canada for impaired driving.

We have to tackle auto theft. I’m proud to be part of a government, led by Premier Ford, that came forward with the provincial auto grant. This $51 million—monies that are flowing across Ontario today in municipal and First Nations and OPP police services are proof of how seriously we’re tackling it. The $51-million investment over three years has started to pay dividends.

Just yesterday, Peel police service, as an example, made an announcement of a tremendous auto theft bust. I want to give a shout-out to Chief Nishan Duraiappah and everyone at Peel police service who made a difference, found our cars and are sending a message to those people who are stealing them: We’re going to put you on notice, and we’re putting you out of business.

Impaired driving in 2022 alone caused 110 fatalities and over 1,000 injuries.

We live in a province that everyone needs to feel safe in, especially those people who come here to discover Ontario, to see what our province is all about. We have people coming into our province as guests, as tourists, and we want to make sure they know that they can feel safe here.

It’s also unfair to the front-line people who keep our communities safe every day—and I’m thinking of our police officers, our firefighters, our correctional probation and parole officers, the auxiliary and special constables, and the 911 call operators. There is a network in the Ministry of the Solicitor General that works hand in hand with the Ministry of Transportation to ensure that our roadways are kept safe by being vigilant.

As part of the bill that we’re talking about today, we want to make sure that convicted drivers who operate a vehicle without regard to being impaired are aware that there will be substantial consequences. I might add that they may also be charged further under the Criminal Code of Canada or the Highway Traffic Act for improper use of a vehicle, and that’s something that’s important.

This legislation will also tackle stunt driving. Stunt drivers, as the Minister of Transportation said, are problematic because of their reckless behaviour—and they do so speeding; they do so weaving through traffic and performing dangerous manoeuvres. These actions not only endanger the drivers themselves, but everybody else on the road. Stunt driving contributes to anxiety and reduces road safety. Street racing also creates a public nuisance, and the minister spoke about that. It often generates excessive noise, disrupting the peaceful enjoyment in our local community.

Madam Speaker, I’ll end where I started. This bill is another example of our government’s commitment to public safety, our government’s commitment to accept our inherent right to live safely in it, to drive on our roads safely, to ride our bikes safely, to be able to go to work safely and to come home at the end of the day, and to shop and to play in the park and to pray, and to do so safely. Road safety is just as important. It has been a privilege to work alongside my colleagues the Minister of Transportation and the Associate Minister of Transportation to make sure that the message across Ontario is uniform. We live in the most amazing province and jurisdiction anywhere in the world, but it should be safe for everyone.

Madam Speaker, it has been a privilege to speak on this bill today.