The weirdness of things in this province continue to amaze.
Solicitor General Rich Coleman — in charge of public safety and increasing alcohol consumption — has to be the first mainstream politician to urge a little more drinking and driving as a good thing.
And his advice that people should feel free to have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner and drive home because they would be under the .05 limit is just flat-out wrong. (Coleman has a problem with stating things as fact that are simply not.) The reality is that people who take his advice could end up facing a lost licence, fines and an impounded car.
The Times Colonist looks at this in an editorial today.
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Some folks may remember the BC Liberals pandering to their restaurateur friends back in 2001.
The NDP had brought in some progressive no smoking legislation and the BC Liberals kicked it to the curb. Eatery establishments spent big $$ making their places smoker 'friendly' only to have Gordon stab his buddies in the back in true Campbell fashion when he later reintroduced the no smoking ban.
This is unbelievable. The government has completely lost the plot.
You could argue that most people can handle a single drink with dinner and drive, but two? That would put many over the .5 limit. And what would those people say once they've failed a breathalyzer or killed someone – "Rich Coleman said I could..."
And all this as a sop to the BC Liberal friendly BC Restaurant and Food Services Association. An Association that eased up on its criticism of the HST because, you know, the Liberals asked them to.
What I find most ironic is the restaurant industry would be better off today with an NDP government – a party they campaigned vigorously against for their position of the minimum wage. Now the BCRFA has been sucker punched twice by their "friends" and will likely get stuck with a minimum wage increase in the future, to boot.
If I was a restauranteur in this province there's no way I'd pay the BCRFA to represent my businesses interests.
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Rich Coleman: "They can go in and have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner and still leave and be OK"
B. C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association president Ian Tostenson: "I’m very impressed that Rich Coleman and the government are prepared to take a second look at this."
This is all about the former minister of booze and gambling getting the BC Restaurant & Foodservices Association to contribute money to his leadership campaign.
Public safety is just a joke to Rich Coleman.
Talking to passengers, radios and tape players, cigarettes coffee and cellphones must be banned outright. Children must be strapped in and immobilized. Driving while tired or sick will be a criminal offence. One sneeze and your car is impounded.
All the above reduce driver abilities much more than even .08 alcohol levels.
All drivers and passengers should be required to wear helmets and all passengers must be in the back seat muzzled.
Accidents and injuries would be reduced to a tiny fraction of todays level.
One life saved makes it all worth it!!!!!
Meanwhile 40,000 Americans and Canadians die every year from coal plant pollution, which could be remedied with at a 40% rate of return on investment with coal to nuclear power conversions.
F'ing hypocrites we are.
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