Editorial explainer — prepared by the Crime Watch Canada editorial desk. General information, not legal advice; provincial rules change, so check your own licensing authority.
One Criminal Code, two justice systems
The impaired-driving offences in section 320.14 of the Criminal Code apply to anyone who can be charged with a crime in Canada, which starts at age 12. The difference for a young driver is what happens after the charge. A person aged 12 to 17 is dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act: youth sentences, a strong preference for measures outside custody, and privacy protections on the young person’s identity. From age 18 an offender is an adult and faces the mandatory minimum fine, prohibition and criminal record that apply to everyone else.
Zero means zero for new and young drivers
The bigger difference is provincial. Every province and territory runs a graduated licensing program, and every one of them sets a blood-alcohol limit of zero for learner and probationary drivers — no matter their age. Several provinces go further and apply the zero limit by age as well: Ontario, for example, requires a zero reading from every driver under 21, and Quebec from every driver under 22. Most provinces now apply the same zero-tolerance rule to cannabis for those drivers. A young or novice driver caught with any alcohol or THC faces an immediate licence suspension, and possibly a return to an earlier stage of the program, even where no criminal charge follows.
Legal drinking age is not a driving age
The legal age to buy alcohol is 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec and 19 everywhere else; the legal age for cannabis is 19 in most provinces, 18 in Alberta and 21 in Quebec. Being old enough to drink does not lift the zero limit on a graduated licence — a 19-year-old in Alberta on a GDL licence still cannot have a drink and drive.
For parents
- Know which licence stage your teen holds and what that stage forbids (passengers, night driving, any alcohol).
- Agree on a no-questions-asked ride home. A cab fare is cheaper than a suspension — and far cheaper than a collision.
- Adults who supply alcohol to minors can face provincial liquor-act charges and civil liability if that minor drives.
Impaired-driving charges are the subject of a separate explainer: what the numbers and the law say.
