Goldie Ghamari - June 30, 2023


Bill 93： Joshua’s Law (Lifejackets for Life), 2023

Bill： Supporting Ontario's Community, Rural and Agricultural Newspapers Act, 2023 Standing up for the Munster Community and Munster Elementary School - July 14, 2020

Episode Stats


Length

11 minutes

Words per minute

151.83

Word count

1,751

Sentence count

72

People

Also mentioned:
Enact Joshua Cara McNulty Norman Mailer Gamari Judith Schreier Greg Wilkinson Pamela Fuseli Row Ontario MPP Miller Matt Cox

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Bill 93, Joshua's Law, requires children under the age of 12 to wear a life jacket while operating a personal flotation device (PFD) while boating or using recreational water equipment in Ontario. The bill is dedicated to the 11-year-old who tragically died in a boating accident in 2018 when the boat he was on with his father, brother and another child capsized near Rockport, Ontario.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.320 I recognize Ms. Gamari to move second reading.
00:00:05.160 Thank you, Madam Speaker.
00:00:06.520 I move second reading of Bill 93, An Act to Enact Joshua's Law, Life Jackets for Life, 2023.
00:00:12.560 Hear, hear.
00:00:16.340 Ms. Gamari has moved second reading of Bill 93, An Act to Enact Joshua's Law, Life Jackets for Life, 2023.
00:00:24.040 First one to Standing Order 100.
00:00:26.200 The Member has 12 minutes for her remarks.
00:00:29.400 Thank you, Madam Speaker.
00:00:31.600 Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about my private member's bill, Bill 93, Joshua's Law, the Life Jackets for Life Act.
00:00:39.260 I would like to start off by thanking my friend and colleague, the former MPP for Perry Sound Muskoka, Mr. Norm Miller, who tabled this legislation in the previous session.
00:00:58.400 As you can tell, Madam Speaker, Mr. Miller is here in the Legislature today, and I would
00:01:06.900 like to thank him for joining us as we debate this very important piece of legislation.
00:01:12.520 I'm going to begin by speaking about my constituent, Cara McNulty, who is far too familiar with
00:01:17.860 the type of tragedy that Joshua's law aims to prevent.
00:01:22.660 Her 11-year-old son, Joshua, whom this bill is dedicated to, tragically passed away in
00:01:27.840 September of 2018, when the boat he was on with his father, brother and two other children
00:01:33.040 capsized near Rockport, Ontario.
00:01:36.300 Joshua was wearing a life jacket during the day, but at that moment, he was not.
00:01:42.020 And since then, Cara has been advocating for governments at all levels to make wearing
00:01:47.000 a life jacket mandatory for children in small vessels through her initiative Life Jackets
00:01:52.260 for Life.
00:01:53.520 To quote Cara McNulty, we're thrilled to hear about this bill.
00:01:57.560 Any progress on mandatory wear legislation is a step in the right direction.
00:02:02.160 I'd like to thank Cara for her tireless advocacy and for her support of this legislation.
00:02:07.660 I'm so honoured to continue working on the efforts that MPP Miller started in the
00:02:13.160 previous session.
00:02:16.020 When I tell friends, constituents and even some of my colleagues here in the Legislature
00:02:20.760 about this bill, many are shocked that it's not already the law for children to wear life
00:02:25.940 jackets or personal flotation devices also known as pfds on small personal vessels they have a hard
00:02:33.140 time believing that we're not already doing all that we can to protect children from these
00:02:38.420 preventable tragedies accidents are the leading cause of death for children in canada and not
00:02:45.060 wearing a life jacket is the number one risk factor for drowning while boating in 2021 the
00:02:51.940 The Drowning Prevention Research Centre of Canada found that 80% of people who died in
00:02:57.400 boating-related accidents between 2008 and 2017 were not wearing a life jacket, and another
00:03:04.560 5% were not wearing one properly.
00:03:08.100 According to the 2018 Canadian Drowning Report by the Drowning Prevention Research Centre
00:03:12.560 of Canada, 67% of children aged 5 to 14 who died from drowning were not wearing a personal
00:03:19.980 flotation device.
00:03:21.720 Behind each of these statistics is a life lost, and that leaves a family broken and
00:03:27.420 a community broken.
00:03:29.260 Greg Wilkinson, a former board member of Safe Quiet Lakes, said, the fact that 87% of drownings
00:03:35.480 in Ontario involve people who were not wearing a life jacket tells us all we need to know.
00:03:42.600 Pamela Fuseli, the President and CEO of Parachute Canada, said, evidence shows that legislation
00:03:48.940 and the enforcement of legislation is an effective approach to prevention.
00:03:54.760 Parachutes the Cost of Injury in Canada 2021 report showed that drowning was the third leading cause of death in children aged 14 and younger.
00:04:05.160 The Ottawa Drowning Prevention Coalition says online that drowning is one of the leading causes of injury-related accidents for Canadian children under the age of 5.
00:04:15.940 And Matt Cox, the president of the Ottawa Police Association, said in a statement,
00:04:20.340 The introduction of Bill 93, Joshua's Law, which requires children under the age of 12
00:04:25.340 to wear a personal flotation device or a life jacket while boating or using recreational water equipment is long overdue.
00:04:33.700 The City of Ottawa, like many places in Ontario, have many waterways,
00:04:37.660 and we truly hope Bill 93 will prevent any boating tragedies this summer.
00:04:42.620 Life jackets save lives.
00:04:44.920 We as a policing community are committed to finding ways to keep the City of Ottawa safe.
00:04:50.280 The Ottawa Police Association will support any level of government to attain this goal.
00:04:55.640 I'd now like to talk about the bill itself, Madam Speaker, and explain some of the details
00:04:59.880 and describe how this bill will protect Ontario's children from accidental drowning while boating.
00:05:06.040 If passed, Bill 93 would make it mandatory for any child aged 12 years or younger to wear a life
00:05:12.600 jacket or PFD while on a pleasure boat 9 metres in length or less that is underway or while
00:05:19.260 being towed behind a boat, for example, water skiing, wakeboarding or tubing.
00:05:24.780 A pleasure boat is defined as any vessel used or designated to be used in a navigating water
00:05:30.640 propelled by any kind of water, any kind of power, including human power, sail or motorized
00:05:37.740 power that is used exclusively for pleasure.
00:05:41.660 The federal rules that lay out what safety equipment is required on boats are based on
00:05:47.040 the length of the boat, and there are different requirements for boats of 6 metres, 6-9 metres
00:05:52.540 and 9-12 metres, etc.
00:05:55.780 This legislation applies to boats 9 metres or less because this would cover most runabouts
00:06:01.440 and water-skiing wakeboarding boats.
00:06:04.940 Under Bill 93, it is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to ensure that their
00:06:09.620 child is wearing a PFD or life jacket. If the child is under the supervision of another
00:06:14.900 person 18 years of age or older who is not their parent, then that person is responsible
00:06:19.880 for ensuring the child wears a life jacket. Failing to ensure that child is wearing a
00:06:25.200 life jacket or PFD would result in a fine of no more than $200 on conviction. This responsibility
00:06:32.380 is consistent with other provincial safety legislation. For example, the law surrounding
00:06:37.880 the use of seatbelts in cars, make it the responsibility of the driver to ensure that
00:06:43.400 all passengers under the age of 16 are wearing seatbelts, and the law requiring young cyclists
00:06:49.620 to wear a bike helmet puts the responsibility on the child's parent.
00:06:55.240 The proposed bill allows for an exception for children in an enclosed cabin where there
00:07:00.580 is no danger of falling overboard.
00:07:04.060 This legislation also includes a clause to give the government, through the lieutenant
00:07:08.420 governor in Canada, the ability to create exemptions.
00:07:12.420 This is because life jackets can interfere with some activities.
00:07:16.500 Life jackets and PFDs have come a long way, but for athletes involved in competitive paddling
00:07:21.600 or rowing, life jackets could get in the way.
00:07:25.260 So if the bill passes, I would encourage the government to work with groups like Row Ontario
00:07:30.080 to create an exemption for young athletes involved in formal supervised training or
00:07:36.080 competition.
00:07:37.080 I mentioned the federal rules around boat safety.
00:07:40.320 Some people might question whether this bill is within provincial jurisdiction.
00:07:44.200 To that, I would say that protecting the health and safety of our children is the responsibility
00:07:49.840 of all levels of government.
00:07:52.800 I would also like to point out that the City of Calgary's Water Safety By-law, which
00:07:56.680 requires any person in a vessel or other device used as a means of water transportation to wear
00:08:02.740 a life jacket while they are within the boundaries of the city. And when this bylaw was challenged,
00:08:09.000 Madam Speaker, to say that waterways fell under federal jurisdiction, Judge Judith Schreier ruled
00:08:15.600 that the bylaw was constitutional. Looking beyond our borders, Madam Speaker, this legislation is
00:08:21.380 extremely similar to laws that have been enacted by our neighbors in the United States. All
00:08:26.500 50 states have laws mandating life jacket use for children and at least 30 of these states
00:08:32.420 specifically require children aged 12 and under to wear a life jacket while in small recreational
00:08:38.660 vessels in ontario this law could be put into place with no additional cost to boaters and
00:08:45.860 that's because madam speaker it's already required under the small vessel regulations that boat
00:08:52.180 operators ensure that there is an appropriately sized life jacket or personal flotation device 0.98
00:08:58.120 for every passenger. No law-abiding boater should have to go out and purchase additional life
00:09:03.900 jackets. The only difference is that instead of being stored somewhere on the boat, the child's
00:09:09.580 life jacket is already on their body, and that could make all the difference in the world.
00:09:15.460 In an emergency, there's not always time to grab a life jacket and put it on properly,
00:09:19.760 And this is especially true of children.
00:09:23.060 As the President and CEO of Canada Safety Council said too frequently,
00:09:28.220 we see people drown without intending on even dipping their toe in the water,
00:09:32.520 and these types of tragedies are entirely avoidable.
00:09:35.900 If you're in a boat and accidentally fall into the water,
00:09:39.140 there's not always time to locate the life jacket you have on board and put it on.
00:09:44.120 Between 2008 and 2017, 34% of people known to have not been wearing a PFD when they drowned
00:09:50.860 had one parent in the boat, but were unable to put it on at the time of the incident.
00:10:04.280 Parents, guardians, and all adults are responsible for protecting the health and safety of children.
00:10:09.800 This bill, if passed, would clarify that ensuring children in their care wear a life jacket or a PFD
00:10:17.000 while on a small pleasure boat is a part of that responsibility.
00:10:21.720 This bill won't prevent all drownings, Madam Speaker, but I see this as a common-sense law
00:10:26.440 that would reduce the chances of children drowning in boating accidents.
00:10:31.720 Every child we lose because they were not wearing a life jacket is a tragic and preventable loss of life.
00:10:39.160 It permanently scars parents, families, and communities, and it has a terrible impact on our first responders.
00:10:48.400 Madam Speaker, that is why I'm asking my fellow members to protect the children of Ontario from avoidable harm
00:10:55.460 by supporting Bill 93, Joshua's Law, Life Jackets for Life Act.
00:11:01.180 Once again, I would like to thank the former member for Paris Saint-Moscowka, MPP Norm Miller,
00:11:06.860 for working so hard on this legislation,
00:11:10.700 for working so hard to introduce this legislation in 2021.
00:11:18.040 It's an honour to reintroduce this bill on his behalf,
00:11:22.400 and it is my hope that not only does this legislation pass second reading,
00:11:27.160 but that it passes third reading and becomes law in Ontario.
00:11:30.680 Thank you very much.