The New Brunswick government is backing down on a mandatory helmet law for the province’s ski hills.
In March, former N.B. Public Safety Minister Bruce Northrup said he was preparing legislation, hoping the new law would come into effect in 2015.
But as Poley Mountain general manager Bill Anderson found out recently, the province’s newly elected Liberals won’t be following through with the old government’s intentions.
In a letter from current N.B Public Safety Minister Stephen Horsman, Anderson said he was told helmets would not become law.
"It just said, as a province, that the ski hills would do better themselves promoting (helmets) than bringing legislation in through the government."
Though it won’t be required by the province, Poley Mountain will be enforcing their own helmet rules anyway. It won’t be a radical change – about 90 per cent already wear a helmet – but Anderson said the lack of government support will make it more difficult.
“It'd definitely be a lot easier if it was the law but we'll do our best,” he said. “Everybody’s prepared and we're going to make the transition as smooth as we can for our guests."
Neighbouring province Nova Scotia introduced its own legislation in 2012, imposing a minimum fine of $250 on those caught hitting the slopes without an approved helmet.
Stephen Moffett, whose granddaughter was injured on a Nova Scotia hill last year, supports mandatory head protection.
"She hit a tree and she was hurt and spent some time in the hospital,” he said. “I think we can say, because of the helmet, she’s basically made a full recovery."
But had the accident happened to someone in New Brunswick, or any other province, Moffett thinks that person might not be so lucky.
"The reality is, Nova Scotia at this point is the only jurisdiction that we know of where it's actually a law."
With a report from CTV Atlantic
