Former public safety minister Steven Blaney tabled a bill Tuesday that, if passed, would give police the power to stop anyone, at any time, to demand a breath sample to determine if they’re driving impaired.

Blaney, now Conservative critic for public services and procurement, held a press conference to introduce the bill, flagged by fellow Tory MP Mark Warawa, Tory senator and former Sûreté du Québec officer Jean-Guy Dagenais, and two representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

“As a former public safety minister, I met many drunken driving victims and it is essential that current legislation be reinforced to reduce the number of human tragedies involving drunk drivers,” Blaney said.

The bill follows a recommendation from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights before the election to allow police to implement what’s called “mandatory screening.”

Researchers testifying before that committee suggested that police only identify about half of all drunk drivers and that mandatory screening would help them get a better handle on the problem.

Under Canadian law, police generally need a reason to request a roadside breath test. Such tests give only a rough indication of an individual’s blood alcohol level; the more sophisticated and precise breathalyser test is administered at a police station.

Blaney’s bill also aims to make sentences tougher on those convicted of repeat drunk driving, and to eliminate two defences sometimes used in drunk driving cases, while allowing for lighter sentences in cases where the accused pleads guilty.

One of those defences, the “bolus defence”, allows an accused to claim that he or she consumed several drinks immediately prior to driving — raising doubt about whether the alcohol had time to enter the bloodstream before the accused got behind the wheel.

The other defence targeted in the bill is the “intervening drink defence”, which sees an accused claim that he or she consumed alcohol after being stopped by police — suggesting that the blood alcohol level was actually lower when the accused was driving.

Both defences are loopholes that clog up the courts and should be eliminated, Blaney said.

As well, the bill proposes increasing the maximum sentence for driving causing bodily harm to 14 years from the current 10, while repeat drunk drivers would get one year in jail for a second offence and two years for a third offence.

For impaired driving causing death, sentences would vary from five to 25 years and judges would be allowed to apply consecutive sentences when more than one person is killed.