Legislating while Impaired

Tories never cease to amaze me with their inability to understand the laws that are already on the books.

Yesterday the Minister of Justice (C- So, Con?) introduced measures to provide for certainty when dealing with individuals who have been stopped while impaired by drugs. The speeches from the Government side heralded the clear vision, blah blah blah.

Obviously, they were paying attention in 1985 when their OWN PARTY amended the Criminal Code to read:

253. Every one commits an offence who operates a motor vehicle or vessel or operates or assists in the operation of an aircraft or of railway equipment or has the care or control of a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment, whether it is in motion or not,
(a) while the persons ability to operate the vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment is impaired by alcohol or a drug;

If that section wasn't good enough, maybe they should have read the "catch-all" section, which reads:

249. (1) Every one commits an offence who operates
(a) a motor vehicle in a manner that is dangerous to the public

The Act goes on to state that anyone who commits said offence and kills another person can get fourteen years in the big house.

What the Tories did was explicitly spell out all of the powers and authorities that "Peace Officers" have in obtaining evidence, and put an onerous reverse onus (ORO) on individuals found to be under the influence. In other words, after you have already been found in violation of the Act for something that was already illegal, now you have to prove that you are innocent of a second deemed offence. The government has managed to violate the constitution in order to protect the public, the same public which was already adequately protected by the existing, yet constitutionally permissible, statute. At least one lawyer is going to make a killing because of this statute.

This is the second time the Tories have re-introduced existing law - the first was when they made it illegal to use illegal guns. Bravo.

So, any plans on introducing legislation that will have a positive effect any time soon?