Quebec rejects coroner’s recommendation to look at .05 blood-alcohol limit

MONTREAL — A Quebec coroner is recommending the province study reducing the legal blood-alcohol concentration for drivers to .05, but Quebec’s transport minister says lowering the limit is not in the plans.

Coroner Yvon Garneau’s recommendation comes in a report made public today into the 2021 death near Drummondville, Que., of Stéphanie Houle, a passenger in a vehicle driven by someone whose blood-alcohol level was nearly double the Criminal Code limit of .08.

Quebec law uses the same .08 limit, but all other provinces have established a legal limit of .05 or lower — after which drivers could have their licences revoked or face other sanctions.

A spokesperson for Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault says in a statement today that the government is not considering changing the .08 limit, which is the equivalent of 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.