Rodney Constantine had as many as 15 drinks before he got behind the wheel in December 2023, the court heard. A crash reconstruction specialist later said the car was travelling upwards of 128 km/h in a 50 zone when it lost control on a curve. Mark Squires, 32, a passenger in the back seat, was killed.
Constantine pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death. The Crown and defence jointly proposed four years, saying it would spare the family a trial. In a rare move, Judge Bruce Short sent them back. “How can four years be adequate in this case?” he asked. Much of his reasoning turned on what came after the crash. Constantine was caught twice more driving while banned in the months that followed.
On Oct. 2, Short sentenced him to five years on a revised joint submission. He said he believed the case warranted six to six and a half years and that he would still like to see a higher sentence, but he accepted the deal.
Short also took aim at the law itself. The minimum fine was raised to $1,000 in 2008 and has not changed since. Counting inflation, he said, it is barely higher than before. He asked “how seriously we are attempting to curb impaired driving.” He was critical of the ignition interlock program too, which lets offenders who can pay keep driving. “Where is the deterrent there?” he asked.
That’s not an accident. That’s a choice.
In Winnipeg, Kuldeep Singh Gill was sentenced to eight years, less 33 days served, for killing cyclists Egor Popov and Kerry Bonner and orphaning their infant daughter. He walked away from the scene, a decision the judge called “morally repugnant.” “It never had to happen, and this was not an accident,” Associate Chief Judge David Ireland said. CBC has reported that Gill pleaded guilty to an impaired driving charge after a 2016 crash. Popov’s sister said he had previous convictions for impaired driving and for failing to comply with licence restrictions, and that earlier sentences could have been more serious.
In Ontario, Ethan Lehouillier was 19 when he exited Highway 401 at Renforth Drive. His van’s data recorder showed 168 km/h seconds before it hit a van stopped at a red light, and his blood alcohol was more than twice the legal limit. Ramone Lavina, 15, Jace Lavina, 13, and Mya Lavina, 6, were killed. He pleaded guilty. The Crown asked for the upper end of eight to ten years, and the defence suggested seven. He was sentenced to eight, about six and a half after time served. Akesh Paladugu, who was in the other van, said the sentence should have counted per child, for 24 years in all.
ORDERS THAT DON’T HOLD
Constantine kept driving while banned. In Winnipeg, Judge Ireland said Gill “was disqualified from driving, and he continued to drive.” Castanet Kamloops reported this year that a man already under an indefinite driving prohibition, and caught driving repeatedly in 2025, was sentenced to 90 days on a joint submission the judge called lenient. That case involved no death, and it is not what my petition addresses. It is a reminder that an order is only as strong as the cost of breaking it.
WHAT THE DEALS HAVE IN COMMON
Three of the four sentences in this piece came out of an agreement between Crown and defence. Judge Short rejected the first one in St. John’s and accepted a second at five years, while saying he believed six to six and a half was warranted. Judge Ireland accepted the Winnipeg recommendation. The Kamloops judge accepted his and called it lenient. Only Lehouillier’s sentence was argued out in court.
My petition does not address joint submissions. It also leaves out the minimum fine and the ignition interlock program that Judge Short criticized. I would rather say so than leave it out. If negotiated outcomes and weak penalties are what is holding sentences down, that is a different fight from the one I am proposing.
WHAT I’M NOT CLAIMING
I’m not saying these are the same case, or that the number of deaths should set a sentence by formula. Sentencing in Canada is individualized, and judges weigh remorse, record and circumstances. Some of that is right. Gill’s sentence came from a joint recommendation, and Lehouillier was a teenager who pleaded guilty, so eight years means different things in each.
A NARROWER ASK
Parliament has been moving. Bill C-14 took effect on July 15, and Ontario has tightened its licence penalties. My first petition asked for a new offence and fell short of 500 signatures. I now think I aimed at the wrong target: impaired driving causing death already carries a maximum of life, and what is missing is consistency in how the law is applied. This petition asks for two amendments to existing Criminal Code provisions. It creates no new offence.
1. When one impaired driving incident kills more than one person, sentences would be presumed consecutive. A judge who wants them served concurrently would have to explain why in writing.
2. In every case of impaired driving causing death, the judge would state in writing how each aggravating factor shaped the sentence.
Neither ask sets a mandatory minimum. The decision stays with the judge, who has to show the reasoning on the record.
The petition is awaiting the Clerk’s review, and I’ll share the link the day it opens. If you’d like to be notified, message me or reply here.
Judge Short asked how seriously we are attempting to curb impaired driving. That is the question I would like Parliament to answer.