OTTAWA -- An Ontario Provincial Police checkpoint aimed at stopping non-essential travel into the province in a bid to reduce the spread of COVID-19 has also pulled an impaired driver off the road.
A 27-year-old Montreal resident is facing impaired driving charges after being stopped at a police checkpoint in eastern Ontario.
Hawkesbury OPP officers were operating the provincial border checkpoint on Highway 417 just before 8 a.m. Tuesday when the vehicle travelling from Quebec to Ontario pulled up to the officers' location.
Police say the driver was impaired by drugs and/or alcohol.
Maxime Levesque of Montreal was charged with operating a motor vehicle while impaired and driving a vehicle with cannabis readily available.
Police say the accused's driver's licence was suspended for 90 days and the vehicle was impounded.
Police began setting up checkpoints at all Ontario-Quebec interprovincial crossings on Monday as part of new restrictions introduced by the Ontario government to stop the spread of COVID-19.
