MANDATORY ALCOHOL SCREENING IS CONSTITUTIONAL

In R. v. Morrison, 2020 SKPC 28, a Provincial Court Judge has found that the Mandatory Alcohol Screening provisions, introduced in 2018, are constitutional.  One paragraph of the 226 paragraph judgment reads:

Previous attempts or strategies to detect alcohol in a driver such as observation for signs of impairment like slurred speech or bloodshot eyes, smell of alcohol, questioning of a driver about his alcohol consumption and field sobriety tests have all had varying degrees of success but also of failure.  And since driving is not an inherent right and is subject to extensive regulations to protect life and property, and since I find that there are no obvious or apparent less restrictive schemes that the government could employ, I find that the Crown has proven, on a balance of probabilities, that the legislation impairs the accused’s rights in a minimal way.