Random car audits bound to turn out badly

The Horgan NDP government has decided impose so-called "random audits" of vehicles on the roads as a measure to curtail nonessential out-of-health-authority travel in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19.

How could any right-minded sociallyresponsible person possibly argue against such a proposal?

Based on my purely anecdotal observations, the seasonal influx of Alberta-plated vehicles into the Okanagan has already begun. In the summer, it almost seems that every other vehicle on the roads in Kelowna has an Alberta plate on it.

Will non-B.C. plated, as well as B.C.-plated, vehicles be "randomly audited" by police? If so, it is hard to see how the majority of nonB.C. plated vehicle owners would escape the associated fines for non-essential travel outside their home health authority.

Moreover, since non-B.C. plated vehicles are easily identifiable and their occupants are more than likely, but admittedly not necessarily, outside of their regional home health authority, suggesting that stopping and "auditing" the occupants of these vehicles is really "random" is debatable and almost certainly will end up in court.

Or will the “random audits” of vehicles be restricted to only B.C.-plated vehicles? Talk about being a stranger in your own land.

In addition, I suggest that focusing exclusively on vehicle travel and apparently completely ignoring "randomly auditing" airline passengers as they exit any and all B.C. airports is a missed opportunity in controlling non-essential travel!

Will air travel passengers be subjected to these random audits as they exit the planes or in the arrival’s hall? Will taxis and/or public transport leaving airports be subject to these “random audits” of their occupants? Indeed, will the failure to uniformly apply these random audits to all forms of inter and intra provincial travel lead to court challenges?

Notwithstanding the best of intentions, this particular policy initiative by the Horgan NDP government is poorly thought out and will lead to unintended, unwanted and maybe unconstitutional consequences. Worse yet, this policy will do little to curb the spread of COVID-19 and thereby erode public confidence in government itself. Just when we need it the most.

Modern history has shown that "random auditing" of citizens, or "carding" as it otherwise known, has been habitually used to suppress and curtail the movements of disadvantaged, primarily racialized, individuals. It has no place in a free liberal democracy. Enough is enough.

Gordon Swaters, West Kelowna