Yes, immediately, and before any court has decided anything. That is the part almost nobody is told at the roadside, and it is the part that changes how the next ninety days of your life work.
There are two separate suspensions in an Ontario impaired driving case, they come from two different levels of government, and they are frequently confused. Understanding which one you are in tells you what can still be argued and what cannot.
The Roadside Suspension Is Automatic
Register a fail on an approved screening device, or refuse to provide a sample, and Ontario imposes an administrative licence suspension of 90 days on the spot, along with a seven day vehicle impoundment. This is provincial, it is not a penalty for the offence, and it happens whether or not you are ever convicted. It is not a finding of guilt and it is not evidence of one.
People routinely assume the 90 days is the punishment and that it is over once it expires. It is neither. The criminal charge continues entirely separately, and its consequences begin where the administrative suspension ends.
"The roadside suspension is not your sentence. It is the thing that happens while the actual case has not started yet."
The Conviction Suspension Is the Serious One
A conviction for impaired driving carries a federal driving prohibition, with a minimum of one year for a first offence, and Ontario suspends the licence alongside it. That is the suspension that matters, because it attaches to a criminal record rather than to an administrative process.
Ontario's ignition interlock program can shorten the period during which you cannot drive at all, by allowing driving with a device installed. It reduces the practical impact considerably, but it does not remove the conviction and it does not remove the record.
The Fine Is Not a Flat Number
Minimum fines under section 320.19 of the Criminal Code are $1,000 for a first offence, whatever the reading. The elevated minimums people repeat, $1,500 and $2,000, are narrower than they are usually described: section 320.19(3) attaches them only to a conviction for driving over 80 under paragraph 320.14(1)(b), at $1,500 where the concentration is 120 to 159 and $2,000 at 160 and above. A conviction for impaired operation under paragraph 320.14(1)(a) carries the $1,000 minimum no matter what the reading was, or whether there was one. Refusing to provide a sample carries its own $2,000 minimum.
A second offence carries a minimum of 30 days imprisonment and a third carries 120 days. Those are minimums, not maximums, and they are not discretionary.
What Is Actually Arguable
The administrative suspension has a narrow review process and is difficult to disturb. The criminal charge is a different matter, and it is where the real work sits: whether the officer had the grounds for the demand, whether the instrument was properly calibrated and maintained, whether the operator was qualified, whether the observation period and timing were correct, and whether your right to counsel under section 10(b) of the Charter was properly implemented.
None of that is available to you if you plead early to make the process end. The suspension you are trying to end is provincial, and pleading guilty does not shorten it.
Before You Decide Anything
A conviction has consequences well past the licence: insurance, employment, and for non-citizens, immigration. See criminal records and the US border and criminal charges and immigration status.
Our impaired driving and driving offences practice page explains how these cases run, and the first evaluation is free and confidential.
