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Lauzon stayed two of the six charges of which Calypso had been found guilty, ruling those offences were similar enough to other offences that they didn’t require a separate fine.

The fine and surcharge matched the highest penalty ever handed down under the act, according to the Technical Standards and Safety Authority.

TSSA spokesman Wilson Lee said Calypso’s behaviour was “frankly unacceptable” and that the authority expects the heavy fine will be a deterrent to other amusement park operators.

“Ultimately what we are talking about here is the safety of the public. We are talking about children; we are talking about parents,” said Lee. Any amusement park operator “is going to think twice and very carefully” about obeying Ontario’s safety laws given the size of the penalty, Lee said.

In her decision, Lauzon said the accident in July 2012 on the Bobsleigh that left rider Marek Strelec unconscious and in hospital for three days was “absolutely preventable.” Strelec was thrown over the side of the open slide to the concrete below after the raft he was riding in with his children collided with another raft that was stuck on the slide.

Sophie St. Jacques suffered a broken vertebra as a result of an accident on the Steamer water slide a year earlier. The 50-year-old had never ridden on a water slide before heading to Calypso.

“The maximum total fine could have been $4,000,000. A fine that is 10 per cent of the maximum fine, for a first offender, is reasonable in my view,” wrote Lauzon in her sentencing decision. Lauzon wrote that the fines will cause Calypso “to realize the importance of knowing, understanding and abiding by all sections” of the act.