Does OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino ever think before he opens up his big mouth? He had political staff in Queens Park running around in circles after suggesting the Ontario government enact legislation that would make drivers pay for accidents caused by negligence.
Fantino's proposed law would let insurance companies off the hook and make motorists pay for accidents in which they were driving aggressively in poor weather. So now he wants to rewrite Ontario insurance law because we had a weekend of bad weather and his officers got cranky responding to accidents.
It's totally inappropriate for a senior police official to be proposing new laws. We elect MPPs to debate and consider legislation, usually after public consultation. But Commissioner Fantino doesn't feel that our democratic processes apply to him.
Auto insurance has been mandatory in Ontario since the 1970s. The reason it was made compulsory was to protect people from large losses. Who in their right mind would drive in bad weather if there was a risk you might slide into someone and not be able to claim on your insurance policy? What would that do to the economy of the province if people refused to drive in bad weather? And who would decide if someone was driving to fast for the weather conditions?
Fantino claims that almost every U.S. state has this exclusion. Some how I doubt it. Start excluding accidents in bad weather and you pretty much let insurance companies off the hook for most accidents. I tried to find a state with this type of exclusion and couldn't locate even one.
The police have enough tools to use against bad drivers. Why don't they use them. Leave policy making to the elected representatives.
2 comments:
It's not inappropriate at all for the police to be proposing new laws. In fact they regularly do so. It would be inappropriate if they decided to start enforcing laws they made up. In this case Fantino proposed a new law and the Ontario government rejected the idea. That's how our system works.
Police proposing provinical laws they get to enforce is a very one sided, extremely bias, undemocratic idea. If this becomes the norm, we may as well toss out the Charter of Rights and Freedoms we as Canadians enjoy, Sections 7 - 11 would make excellent arguments against charges under such new legislations. It wasn't too long ago, "STUNT driving" laws were pushed through only to have 80% of the charges, settled by the Crown, based on violations of Charter Rights guarenteed to all Canadians. Careful with your bright ideas Fantino, surprisingly they're not really based or supported by actual law.
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