“The Potential Murderer,” Kingston Whig-Standard. March 15, 1933. Page 04.

“To the Editor of
The Whig-Standard.

Sir – It is reported that Queen’s Park is being heavily bombarded by the Moderation League and their friends.  Members are, we understand, almost daily in receipt of letters urging the passage of an amendment to the Liquor Control Act permitting the sale of beer and wine in hotels.  Members of the Legislature must needs have considerable hardihood if, in the face of the facts that are coming to light, they are to sympathize with such a proposal.

The figures, for instance, in the recent bulletin on Highway Traffic in Canada furnish a startling contrast as between Quebec and Ontario in the matter of fatalities on the highways.  The record for the last few years in each province of the numbers killed in motor accidents per 10,000 cars registered, is as follows…

Year      Ontario     Quebec

1926…..   6.23 …..  16.89
1927…..   8.87 …..  19.62
1928…..   8.90 …..  18.79
1929….. 10.12 …..  19.05
1930…..   9.16 …..  18.89
1931…..  10.15 ….  19.77

For every million gallons of gas sold in the year 1930, 2.6 persons were killed on the highways in Ontario and 4.06 in Quebec.

The matter of density of traffic is always a material factor in the record of accidents, but in this respect Quebec has an immense advantage.  In 1931 her total motor vehicle registration was less than 32 per cent of that of Ontario. there may be some other minor elements of difference in the picture.  The figures cited above, however, point unmistakably to some constant and major cause of fatal accidents in the Quebec area.

Quebec, in contrast to Ontario, sells beer by the open bottle in hotels, taverns and restaurants.  It is legally available in most parts of that province at almost any hour of the day and until late at night.  Scientific research has made abundantly clear the effects of very small doses of alcohol and the reasons why the dangers in driving are seriously enhanced after a casual glass of beer. Quebec has, per cars registered, more than double the fatalities occurring in Ontario.  Circumstantial evidence supported by scientific knowledge points directly to beer as the arch murderer.

The legislators of Ontario can scarcely be expected to become accessories before the fact to the killing annually of an additional five hundred citizens upon our highways.

A. J. IRWIN.”

Drunk driving used to defend liquor control and prohibition.