Global Courant 2023-05-11 01:37:57
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Author of the article:
The Canadian Press
Allison Jones
Published on May 10, 2023 • read for 3 minutes
The Ontario provincial flag flies in Ottawa, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. An Ontario bill mandating portable soccer goals, named in memory of a 15-year-old boy who was killed by a goal, has passed a major hurdle and could open later this year become law. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Photo by Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press
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TORONTO – An Ontario bill that would secure portable football goals – named in memory of a 15-year-old boy killed by one of them – could become law later this year.
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Garrett Mills, of Napanee, Ont., was playing with his girlfriend and his best friend in a park on May 12, 2017, while hanging from the crossbar of a movable soccer net and pulling up when the 200-pound structure on top of him, fracturing his skull.
Ric Bresee, who represents Hastings-Lennox and Addington for the progressive conservatives in eastern Ontario, told the legislature that Garrett’s girlfriend said that while they were enjoying the beautiful spring day, the teen had commented that it was one of the best days of the year. his life.
“Garrett was a friendly, positive young man who enjoyed making other people laugh, apparently mostly through silly puns,” Bresee said.
“Garrett’s father knows he can’t get Garrett back, but he also doesn’t want his son’s death to be in vain.”
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Bresee introduced Garrett’s Legacy Act, which would set requirements for the safe use of portable soccer goals used by members of the public. It passed this week for its second reading and will go to committee, then be returned to the legislature for its third and final reading, which Bresee says could happen in the fall.
The bill has the support of all parties of the legislature, including the government, Bresee said, which should ensure it passes. Similar laws have been passed before, but were also not passed due to an election or prorogation.
Portable soccer goals are responsible for more than 40 deaths in North America, mostly children, Bresee said.
“I never knew that mobile football nets were a risk, and I would bet that, like me, many parents have watched their children play on or near football nets without ever giving it a second thought that they might fall over,” he said. .
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Energy Secretary Todd Smith first introduced Garrett’s Legacy Act in 2017, along with Liberal backbencher Sophie Kiwala, when he was in the opposition, saying the legislation is common sense.
“There have been jurisdictions, as MPP Bresee outlined, that have already passed legislation, including the Yukon, and many US states have introduced legislation to make sure that these targets are safe, that they have the weight on them, that they are so enacted they will not tip over,” he said in the legislature.
Bresee said he did not know Garrett but has a personal connection to his father. Dave Mills contacted Bresee just a few months after Garrett’s death, when Bresee lost his daughter to leukemia.
“No parent should ever bury their child,” Bresee said. “His kind, sympathetic and empathetic words to me were a tremendous comfort to me at the time, and I will always be grateful to him for that.”
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Not long before his death, Garrett asked his father what the term legacy meant, and after hearing an explanation from his father, said he hoped to leave one, Bresee said.
“So please let’s take this bill to committee and third reading today so that no other parent has to bury a child because of an incident like this, because of an incident like this that is preventable,” he told the legislature . the bill passed at second reading.
“Then Garrett will have his legacy and Dave and Gwen Mills will know that their son helped prevent others from suffering as they suffered.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 10, 2023.
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