Soon Canoeing Dunk in Canada Will No Longer be a Punishable Offence. Weird Law.

Canadians had their car driver’s licenses suspended for being drunk while paddling canoes and foot powered paddle boats in the past.

It is still legal to ride a bike drunk as hell downtown any city in Canada.

I grew up on a busy river in a Place called Muskoka Ontario, just a few hours north of Toronto and is kindly referred to as Cottage Country by the city folks that came every summer let us locals play with daughters and ride in their boats.
All great memories.

I ended up moving to Toronto when I was a teenager and my cottage country childhood became the place I now visit and canoe in the wilderness. Drunken canoeing can be a lot of fun. Nothing beats sitting on the dock soaking up the sun and pounding back the beers and then hoping into canoe for a little tour of the lake.

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/two-teenage-girls-with-canoe-san-francisco-california-usa-picture-id523442112

” There have been numerous such charges against canoeists in Ontario, where police vigorously patrol the waterways throughout the summer and the provincial government has stated that canoes, kayaks and even inflatable rafts all count under impaired driving laws.”

And even though this law is being repealed police still have an arsenal of other charges to slap down on playful citizens who really only risk hurting themselves.

”Police can still lay other charges for being intoxicated in public, but impaired driving charges trigger harsh provincial penalties such as automatic driver’s license suspensions, steep fines, demerit points, ignition unlocking devices and vehicle impoundment.”

The reason for this is because the government are tightening up impaired driving laws in advance of the legalization of Marijuana which as I mentioned in a past article is only removing one law so they can implement a bunch of other ones still in the works. I grew in place where police boats and jet skis on the waterways were a common sight and they loved to make sure boats had enough paddles and life jackets so they could find a reason to give out some tickets. I never met anyone who lost their drivers license because of drunken canoeing thankfully.

Well, we can all say good bye to a stupid law that when enforced caused more damage than good to society. People who are good drivers had their cars impounded and lost their ride to work and had to pay hefty fines which caused unfair hardships for just having a good weekend and not hurting anyone. They have hurt themselves but that's just Nature's Selection.

This is where I canoe. It’s so far from society that if a COP came to ticket me canoeing drunk I would have to applaud them for making the trip out here. Probably cost them more time and money just find me than whatever fines I would be issued.

Actual photo of me canoeing, not drunk as it’s a bit too early in the morning for a brew.

Source
http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/canada-set-to-remove-drunk-canoeing-as-an-impaired-driving-offence

All photos are free google grabs if not my own.