Hastings-Lennox & Addington’s MPP says a long-awaited Bill to keep sports fields safe may finally be passed into law this year.
Ric Bresee spoke to Bill 99, also known as Garrett’s Legacy Act, at Queen’s Park recently. It’s intended to put a ban on soccer nets that can tip over. The law has been in the works since a falling net killed teenager Garrett Mills on a Napanee soccer field in 2017.
The MPP has a personal connection to the Mills family. Garrett’s father, Dave Mills, reached out to Bresee to help comfort him upon the loss of his daughter to leukemia that same year. Both want to do what they can to limit tragedies to children.
“When you lose a parent you’re called an orphan,” Bresee said, starting a well-known quote. “When you lose a spouse, you’re called a widow or widower. There is no word for losing a child, because that’s not the way it’s supposed to happen. No one is supposed to bury their children.”
Bresee says the Bill will be reviewed by a committee this summer and he expects it will be sent back for a final reading and passed in the Legislature in the fall, allowing it to become law.