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OTTAWA — A 76-year-old woman in B.C. has launched a Charter challenge against a new law that allows Canadian police to demand a roadside breath test without needing any suspicion the driver has been drinking.

Norma McLeod was driving out of a Victoria, B.C., liquor store parking lot just after 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 14 when a police officer pulled her over and demanded she provide a breath test. According to the officer’s own report, he was staking out the liquor store and conducting breath tests on anyone who exited.

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The details of the incident appear to confirm the fears of critics of mandatory alcohol screening: that police would use the new powers to arbitrarily target drivers.

McLeod says she was unable to properly blow into the roadside screening device because she has an implant in the roof of her mouth as a result of cancer, and also has a chronic lung condition. The officer felt she was purposefully sabotaging the test and deemed it a refused breath sample.