Bill 76, the Life Jackets for Life Act passes second reading unanimously
MPP Norman Miller’s Private Member’s Bill 76, the Lifejackets for Life Act passed second reading this afternoon.
This bill would make it mandatory for all children aged 12 and younger to wear a lifejacket while underway on a small pleasure boat. The responsibility to ensure the child is wearing a lifejacket would fall on the parent/guardian or the adult supervising the child at the time. The penalty would be a fine of no more than $200.
“I would like to thank all the MPPs who spoke in support of this bill and voted for it to pass second reading,” said Norman Miller, MPP for Parry Sound-Muskoka. “The statistics prove that lifejackets are the best way to protect children from accidental drowning while boating. This is a common sense bill that will go a long way in protecting children because even one young life lost to drowning is too many.”
MPP Miller also thanked the groups and individuals who lent their support to this bill, including the Parry Sound – Muskoka Area Lifesaving Society, The Georgian Bay Association, the Lake of Bays Association, Parachute Canada, the Canada Safety Council, Safe Quiet Lakes, as well as Dr. Suzanne Beno from the Canadian Pediatric Society’s Injury Prevention Committee, Cara McNulty from Lifejackets for Life who lost her son in a boating accident and Dan Mulligan, a retired OPP helicopter pilot who inspired the idea for the bill.
The proposed legislation is available through the Legislative Assembly of Ontario website at: https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-2/bill-76. The Hansard Transcript of the debate will be available tomorrow.