Exclusive – Driver Responsible for the Deaths of Two Men On Highway 401 Granted Day Parole

(Today’s Northumberland File Photos)

A parole hearing was held on Friday, December 9, 2022 for a man who was convicted in the deaths of two men in a horrific collision on Highway 401 five years ago.

Baljinder Singh who was 56-years-old at the time he caused the deaths of Todd Gardiner (age 26) from Newcastle and his cousin Michael Glazier (age 35) from Guelph on August 3, 2017 on the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 at Port Hope.

Singh plead guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing death in February 2021. He received two counts to run concurrent for a three-year prison sentence.

But after only 15-months in prison Singh was granted day parole with conditions.

Two Parole Board of Canada members, Alison Scott who has been a member of the Parole Board of Canada since 2019 and Kevin Corcoran who has been a member of the Parole Board of Canada since 2014 listened to victim impact statements Gardiner’s parents Todd and Pauline along with his fiancé Nicole McGee.

Lawyer Daryl Miller spoke for Singh saying the purpose of the hearing it to see if Singh meets the status of parole.

Miller brought up that while on bail during the four years of court process, Singh followed the conditions.

And also stated, Singh is a “positive member of the community.”

Miller said Singh is of low risk to re-offend and asked the Parole Board to consider day parole stating, Singh is a “viable candidate for parole.”

The Parole Board heard that Singh did not take part in working jobs in prison even though he could have and stated numerous times he prays for Todd Gardiner and Michael Glazier and their families.

“Two young men lost their lives because of me. The life I have left, I will pray for them and the families.”

Both Parole Board members offered their deepest sympathies towards the families of both men.

“I have been doing this job a long time and they were truly touching accounts of two very special lives,” said Corcoran.

“And that doesn’t go unnoticed by the Board. But our job is not to punish people it is to assess their risk in the context of conditional release and we have to follow the law. And we don’t always get to follow our hearts.”

The Parole Board granted Singh day parole, but denied him full parole.

“We believe full parole is premature until you can demonstrate some stability in the community under supervision on day parole,” said Scott.

The Parole Board imposed Singh attend counselling with a Punjabi speaking person in the area of grief, guilt and emotional management.

With written approval from Singh’s parole supervisor, leave privileges can be overnight if they are earned.

Board imposing curfew of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Board imposing condition for Singh to avoid any members of the victims families and to stay away from the areas of Quinte West, Quinte East, Durham Region, Northumberland County, Kawartha County, Wellington County, Hastings County, Scarborough along with Addington Highlands and North Frontenac unless Singh has approval from his parole supervisor.
And he is prohibited from driving.

 

Below are Victim Impact Statements read at the Parole Hearing

 

Victim Impact Statements
Todd’s Mother, Pauline Gardiner:
One of a kind, an amazing soul, a joy to be around, caring, loving, loyal, goofy, respectful, outgoing, unique, a person of caliber, passionate, friend, best friend, our glue, brother, original, kind, hilarious, man of steel and a hero!

Those are some of the words that people used and still use to describe Todd. Todd came into your life and changed it for the better! Words cannot express the sorrow that is felt by an entire community!

I am Todd’s Mother Pauline.

Most people think that their kids are special, but my son, my only child, Todd, was a gift! He not only was a gift to his father and me and his fiancé Nicole, his family and his friends but he was a gift to everyone he met!

Todd loved life and he lived life to the fullest!

Todd was bursting with creativity and energy!

His warm smile and loving character brought people together. He was a caring and accepting young man who would light up any room when he walked in! Todd had a sense of humour nobody else could match!

To be around Todd and not be laughing was impossible! Todd was a wonderful son, a loving fiancé and a great friend! He was such a bright spot in everyone’s life! Todd loved his life and everyone in it and he a bright future ahead of him!

Todd’s greatest passion (besides Nicole) was hockey!

People would say he had the heart and grit for the game!

When Todd got older and there wasn’t an ice hockey team to play on he joined ball hockey convincing his friends to join him.

Before long Todd was asked to coach a young ball hockey team and he took his friends under his wing and taught them to coach the team with him.

His friends later told me this became their favourite part of the week!

Todd had been asked to coach a young ice hockey team September 2017.

He was so excited and told Nicole his dream was to follow in his Grandfather’s and Uncles’ footsteps and coach hockey for 40 years!

That dream will never happen for Todd!

Todd and Mike were very intelligent and could carry on a conversation with anybody about anything.

Todd graduated from Fleming College in carpentry and was a proud member of the Local 397 Carpenters’ Union in Port Hope.

Todd worked as a carpenter for 8 years but he found time to also follow his passion and take a script writing course at Algonquin College so he could write comedies to make people happy.

Mike took a course in Police Foundations at Durham College and after graduating was offered a position in campus security.

Mike’s dream was to eventually work as a Border Patrol Guard. Both Todd and Mike graduated with honours with big dreams, dreams that will never happen now.

Family meant the whole world to Todd and Mike, they came to every family get together!

We had many family traditions.

At Christmas Todd, us and the dog and sometimes small cousins and eventually Nicole would go together to cut down a Christmas tree then come home and while Christmas music would play we would decorate it together!

Thanksgiving was always up at the cottage with all the family and Todd loved it when we all got together for a family hockey game.

Todd was the center of our lives.

When Mike walked into any room his infectious smile world light up the room.

Todd’s grin and creative mind brought laughter and excitement to anything he ever did.

Everybody who came into Todd and Mike’s orbit instantly knew that they were somebody they would remember for the rest of their lives.

We could see what Todd had to offer the world during his short life. He brought love and laughter to all.

Mike had met April and they had planned to get married June 2018.

That dream of a happy life for Mike and April was taken away from them.

Todd had known Nicole since they were both 12 years old.

Through the years they started talking to each other while Nicole was teaching in England.

When she came back home they began dating and were barely apart.

We could see how much they loved each other.

Todd and Nicole moved into an apartment together and started making plans for their lives together.

They talked about getting married (Todd planned to give Nicole an engagement ring Christmas of 2017).

They wanted to have a house and have children.

They would have made great parents. He had a wonderful future ahead of him.

We had a beautiful life with Todd and Nicole to look forward to!

There will never be a wedding for Todd.

He won’t get the house with Nicole that he wanted and Todd will never be a father or grandfather.

We will never see his smile, we will never share his happiness and we will never have a grandchild.

But worst of all, we will never see Todd again.

Our beautiful, loving son only got to live for 26 years.

Todd deserved to have a happy long life.

Over 50 years were stolen from Todd.

Todd was doing good in the world in only 26 years! Some people get to live out their lives to old ages whether they do good or bad.

My son was doing good why couldn’t he have his life?

I cry for my son every waking minute of the day, I am empty inside, I don’t feel anything but sorrow, I walk around with a knot in my stomach, I have no taste for food.

Todd’s father and I are both on anxiety medication and I am also taking anti-depressants.

We have both been to our minister and counselors and I am still seeing a psychologist under the guidance of a psychiatrist.

Terry takes sleeping pills to try and get a couple hours of sleep and I have to keep the TV on to try and stop my mind from racing.

Racing back to the day, August 3rd 2017, when our son Todd and nephew Mike were stolen from us.

I relive that night over and over again.

Remembering the police officers at my door telling me my beloved 26 year old son had been killed and my life was over! He was only 26! Mike was only 35!

August 3rd, like many other days, used to be a joyous one as its Todd’s dad’s birthday.

Todd was always so excited to celebrate his dad, he couldn’t wait to get to the cottage to show him the gifts he and Nicole made and bought for Terry.

While Todd’s dad and I were away on holidays Todd made plans and designed and built two benches for us to enjoy up at the cottage.

Todd was so proud and so excited to see our faces when we saw the benches.

Todd didn’t get the chance to see our proud faces because that was the day he was killed.

It will have been 4 years this August, we no longer celebrate Terry’s birthday, how can we without our son?

I am angry all the time now, I cry all the time, I feel empty inside, my heart aches for my son.

My heart was ripped from my chest when my beloved Todd was killed.

All the things I enjoyed doing I have no interest in them.

I feel cheated!

He didn’t just kill two beautiful and gentle souls, Todd and Mike, but he killed our family.

We have no life left.

Todd was our life.

Todd was our only child.

If you have never lost a child yourself you can never know my pain.

There are no words anyone can say that will take away our pain, grief and anger over the despicable, horrific act that was done to our beloved son Todd and our nephew Mike.

Todd’s father and I are living in a nightmare which we will never wake up from.

Baljinder Singh is a very dangerous man. Ignoring signs for construction ahead, ignoring stopped vehicles with brakes on, ignoring other semi-trailer trucks pulled over to the side of the road stopped, ignoring flashing red lights to warn of traffic slowing down to single lane traffic.

This person drove his weapon of choice into the back of my son Todd’s truck at full speed.  With the weight of 35,0o0 lbs behind him, Singh crashed into Todd’s truck, then he crashed into them again and again finally pushing Todd with such force and such impact over 1o0 meters into the back of another semi-trailer truck who was stopped at the construction site crushing Todd’s truck which eventually exploded setting fire to the cab of Todd’s truck with Todd and Mike in it.

There are no words anyone can say that will take away our pain, grief and anger over the despicable, horrific act that was done to our beloved son Todd and our nephew Mike.

This person had travelled that route many times so he knew where the construction was, what flashing lights meant, he knew to stop behind other drivers at the construction zone.

He did nothing to prevent this crash from happening and he is 100% at fault.

The way he was driving that day with no regards to anyone else on the road, if it wasn’t Todd and Mike he killed, it would have been someone else.

Maybe a whole family of children.

Singh could have avoided this crash but he didn’t care.

He had no remorse when he crashed into Todd 3 times finally crushing Todd and Mike.

He had no remorse when he watched as two young men burnt to death destroying any dreams that Todd and Mike had.

He was only worried about his hat/

Singh put our family through so much pain and grief and kept making excuses to delay court proceedings.

He sat there in court straight face with no remorse even after he was shown the terrifying pictures of the crash he had caused.

He had no remorse after hearing our victims’ statements and when the judge asked him if he had anything to said ‘he said “no.”

Singh was sentenced to 3 years of prison with parole after serving 2 years.

This was an insult to us and to Todd and Mike’s memory.

We on the other hand received Life Without Todd and Mlke and no parole.

Where is the justice? What happened to…you do the crime …you do the time….

Now Singh has the gall to be asking for parole to be asking for parole after only serving 7 months (Editor’s Note: it’s actually 15 months).

He killed our sons!

He could have prevented it.

He can go home to his family one day…Todd and Mike can’t.

My husband and l take prescription drugs for anxiety and depression.

We have seen our minister; we have been to psychologists and I have been treated by a psychiatrist.

This is our life now…Todd was our only child…our only son.

Our World !

And now we live in a nightmare.

Singh put us through so much sorrow and grief and stress for 5 years my husband now is on dialysis because all the stress he went through and the great loss of losing his son caused him to get a rare disease caused by great stress.

Please make Singh serve his full term in prison and do not give him parole’

I always said that the one thing I could not survive was the loss of my child. I was right! The person I was…is gone. l took her place!

People keep telling me that life goes on, but, to me, that’s the saddest part. with aching heart…. I whisper low. I miss you Todd…! I love you so!

Todds mother Pauline and Mikes Aunt Pauline

 

Nicole McGee’s Victim Statement
I know you have read my previous statement so I wanted to start this statement by talking about who Todd was.

Todd was a creator, he created stories through his script writing and he created happiness, fun and love through his daily actions.

Todd always wanted people to be happy and he would do his best to cheer anyone up who needed it. Todd worked hard to make his parents proud, he wanted to be just like his dad.

Todd loved to play sports, he would play hockey every day if he could.

He also loved to bowl and golf but this was more about the time he got to spend doing so with his family.

Todd wanted to help young people fall in love with hockey as well and spent his free time coaching kids in ball hockey and had signed up to coach ice hockey too.

He loved bringing joy to the kids and would do silly things like run laps around the ball hockey rink if they won just to give them extra incentive to try hard but he would also do it to cheer them up when they lost.

Todd brought his friends in as coaches so they too could see how enjoyable it was to watch the kids improve, grow and most importantly love hockey.

Todd was a loyal friend; he would go out of his way to help a friend in need.

This is why all his friends each considered Todd his best friend.

Todd was a character, he was often being silly or funny and did not take himself too seriously.

Todd was 26.

Todd was looking forward to his future, starting to plan to buy a house, marriage and then children.

But he never got his chance.

At 26 years old Todd barely got to be an adult, only getting ¼ of his life.

Todd never got to get married, have kids, own a home, become a grandparent, live his life.

Todd’s life was stolen from him.

Todd’s life was stolen from me.

My name is Nicole McGee, I was Todd’s partner, Todd was my soulmate.

Prior to August 2017 I was happy.

I worked teaching and tutoring Mathematics to children and teenagers.

In my spare time I bowled, spent time with friends and spent much of my time with Todd.

I was happy.

I had a belief that if I worked hard, followed the rules, gave my time and energy to those in need that I would be successful.

I believed that I would have my happily ever after.

Todd and I were planning for our future, I was happy.

Todd and I were saving for a house, I was happy.

Todd and I loved each other, I was happy.

Since August 2017 my world was shattered.

I no longer believe in rainbows and sunshine but instead live under a perpetual dark cloud.

My soul gone with my soulmate, forever lost.

I’m no longer happy.

At 26 years of age I lost my future.

The plans we had for a house, gone, the plans of marriage, gone, the plans of having children, gone, my happiness, gone.

I am now 31 years old, I live at my parents.

I cannot afford to live on my own.

I am suffering many health problems, anxiety, depression and many other problems that the doctors are still doing tests on.

This limits how much I can work, which makes it impossible for me to stand on my own two feet.

Todd and I would have a house by now, be married and have children, that was the plan.

Instead I live with my parents, my life lacking meaning.

Many days I feel like giving up, but I know that I am all Todd’s parents have, their only child stolen from them.

Many days I am tired and just don’t want to feel the pain anymore, but I know that only passes the pain to others.

This year I need to renew my passport.

A 5-year passport that, when I got it, I texted Todd and said “you have less than 5 years to marry me so my new passport will have my new last name”, my new passport will with sadness stay McGee, another reminder of what was stolen from me.

I bought a 4 door car with plans for a family, my backseats used for storage of my sadness, no baby cries or happy giggles to come from there, just an empty reminder of my empty life.

Every day I see my friends getting engaged, married, having babies and through my hurt I am happy for them but through the happiness there is a deep pain that will never heal, a jealously of “why not me, why not Todd” that will never be answered.

A dark cloud of sadness. Stolen lives at the hands of a self-centered individual.

Now that you know a bit about who Todd and I were and who I am now, I would like to specifically address this request for parole.

I have heard and read everything I can get my hands on, I have spoken to many people associated to the law from lawyers, to police officers to victim advocates.

What I have learned from this is that I am not alone, we are not alone.

The Gardiner and Glazier families unfortunately join many other families of hard working, good people whom the justice system has let down.

We had to sit through multiple court processes, him firing his lawyer, him missing court for selfish reasons, his fake remorse that the system throws in our face at every turn as justification for a slap on the wrist he received.

This “man” killed two!

Two decent men who wanted to make the world a better place.

This “man” could have plead guilty from the beginning but did everything in his power to selfishly try to get out of a criminal conviction.

This “man” forced two grieving families to endure court processes for nearly 4 years.

This “man” not worried about the victims but only of himself.

Have any of you lost a loved one?

Do you know how they died?

Was it painless?

Was it quick?

Or do you now have to live the next 60+ years knowing that the love of your life was violently hit, spun around and slammed into again without an attempt to break! Do you get to know that the love of your life let a lady merge on as he was doing 14km/h to only be slammed into by a transport truck doing over 90km/h in a nearly stopped construction zone?

Do you now have to live your life knowing the exact spot he died and have to drive past it on your way to work recognizing the McDonald sign because you had to sit in court and see pictures?

Do you have to know that your love ones were set on fire and be forced to cremate them?

Can you no longer go through life seeing collisions, or fire without reliving the worst day of your life?

Without thinking of how scared the person you loved most must have been?

To know you could do nothing to protect the man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with?

Did you never get to say goodbye?

Do you suffer with PTSD, depression, anxiety and have nothing to live for, to look forward to?

Three  years for 2 lives, for 2 bright lights, for 2 innocent men who only wished to spend the weekend with their fathers and uncles.

I used to believe in the justice system… used to.

This “man” did not plead guilty, this man took the opportunity to best fit himself.

This “man” did not try to save us from further pain, he re-violated us over and over.

This “man” worried nothing of us and only of himself.

This “man” did not make any effort to apologize to us but instead had a lawyer read a statement to us.

This “man” does not show remorse, he puts on an act to benefit himself.

This “man” does not deserve to be released, he already got a slap on the wrist for killing 2 innocent men and for torturing their families with the details.

This “man”… does not deserve any more of my time.

Instead… Todd, Todd deserved life, Todd deserved happiness, marriage, children and a future, but at the very least, Todd deserves justice.

Mike, Mike deserved life, Mike deserved happiness, marriage, children and a future, but at the very least, Mike deserves justice.

Mark and Debbie, Pauline and Terry, they deserved grandchildren and years of happiness with their son’s and future daughter in-laws, but at the very least, they deserve justice.

April, April deserved the wedding she had planned with Mike, the baby they planned to adopt, her bright future with Mike, but at the very least, April deserves justice.

I deserved my future with Todd, our home, our love and our children, but at the very least, I deserve justice.

The justice we all deserve was not 3 years, Todd and Mike were worth a LIFETIME, that was what was stole from them.

But at the very least, they deserve justice.

Please let them get some justice, the 3 years that was given.

Let Todd and Mike’s deaths mean something, let them help prevent future deaths, let them matter to you even 1% of what they mattered to us because that 1% is worth at least the 3 years that was given.

Todd and Mike were bright stars, they mattered to so many people, please let them matter to you.

Justice for Mike and Todd!

I love you forever and always Todd,

Nicole McGee

 

Todd’s Father, Terry Gardiner:
My son, Todd, was bright, smart, energetic and always gave 120% in everything he did.

I was always so proud of him and his accomplishments.

He had the type of personality that would just attract people to him or make you laugh if you were feeling down.

Todd always came as soon as he could if I needed a hand with anything.

Todd was the type that saw the good in everyone, he was a friend to all!

He loved life and wanted everyone else to love life too.

If he saw that you were sad he would make you laugh.

Todd and I were very close, we had a very special bond.

We both loved sports and the outdoors.

We enjoyed each other’s company, we enjoyed doing many things together.

Like our times at the cottage, just being outdoor together, just being together.

I still cannot do memories, it hurts to know we will never just be together again.

Todd had a bright future, his whole life, to look forward to.

He was going to ask Nicole to marry him.

They were saving for a home, they wanted to have children together.

They say time heals all.

It can’t ever heal the emptiness I feel inside.

Todd loved his sports; hockey, golf, ball hockey and bowling.

He loved coaching kids in ball hockey and he was going to coach them in ice hockey that fall as well.

Todd had played ice hockey all his life and had a passion for it, in later years it was harder to get the ice time so Todd started playing ball hockey.

In fact Todd started up a ball hockey team of his own with his friends, naming the team “Gerbsaks”.

Todd organized tournaments and got his team sweaters, he wanted to make sure they could all play the sport he loved with him.

Todd received a Memorial award that was just started in 2017 and it is to be awarded to the “Player of the Game”.

They awarded the first one to Todd because he was always the player of the game when he played.

People always said Todd had the heart and the gift for the game.

They renamed the ball hockey division to “The Gardiner Division”.

One of Todd’s dreams was to coach hockey for 40years like his Grandpa and his Uncle Dave (his Godfather).

That dream along with his other dreams will never come true for Todd because he was stolen from us.

Todd was a carpenter by trade, a member of the carpenters union in Port Hope.

He was well liked by many other carpenters as well as the boss.

Todd was very talented in anything he did, carpentry, sports, script writing which he took at Algonquin College.

It didn’t matter what, Todd excelled in it.

Mike was my nephew and he was loved by everyone.

Mike was always happy and his smile would light up any room.

Mike coached and played hockey but his greatest passion was for golf.

He was carrying his new golf club when he left with Todd to meet his father and uncles up at the cottage.

That was on August 3rd, 2017 and Mike was only 35. It was my birthday…

We as parents are supposed to protect our children.

We all have wished we could have done something so this horrific, devastating and senseless act that killed two fine young men wouldn’t have happened.

We live this nightmare every day. Instead of planning Todd’s 27th birthday on August 29th we had to plan Todd and Mike’s funeral.

No parent should have to bury their child.

Anyone who hasn’t lost a son or daughter will never know the pain we suffer every day.

I miss Todd so much! Todd’s mother and I could hardly wait for his visits.

I miss our talks.

I miss sitting and watching the hockey game together or a movie.

I miss when I’d be sitting in my chair downstairs and he’d come home and sneak up behind me, put a head lock on me and say he was hugging me.

I miss Todd and Nicole coming over on Sundays for dinner, after which we would go watch his ball hockey game then come back to our house and just talk.

I miss him every second of every day and night.

Every holiday, every family event, he was always there with us.

For the past four years we all had to sit in court and hear the details of the horrific way Todd and Mike were killed.

We went to the pre-trial and had to sit through it all again, hear all about the careless actions taken that caused our beloved son and nephews deaths.

I had tried to block those things in my head but sitting in court brings it all back.

All the heart-ache and emptiness.

Pauline spent the next days in her room crying.

I listen to Todd’s mother cry every day and night for the loss of our son and0 nephew, every day for nearly 4 years! I feel there is nothing I can do. I’m just here for her.

On top of watching my wife fall apart and trying to cope without my son the stress and anxiety affected my own wellbeing.

I normally went to the doctors yearly for checkups but when Todd was killed I was more focused on caring for my wife, as she’s all I have now.

Since I was depressed, stressed and overwhelmed I neglected my checkups and now I have been diagnosed with a condition, had my son been here, it would have been caught earlier and prevented or may not have happened at all as I wouldn’t have been stressed and depressed. The worse part of it all is I just want him here.

I wanted to take our dog for a walk so I drove over to the lakefront trail. I immediately realized it was a mistake because Todd and I used to ride our bikes there and walk our other dog
Buddy every day after dinner.

We even planted some of the trees on the trail when Todd was in Cubs.

I broke down! I can’t do it anymore!

Nothing matters now, there is no point.

I don’t have any interest in anything.

Everything we did involved our son Todd, now we have nothing.

I haven’t gone golfing since and Todd’s mother and I can’t even go back to the bowling league because we would watch the door waiting for Todd to get there every Thursday.

I try to keep myself busy doing things to get through the day but it doesn’t work!

My son, Todd, and nephew, Mike, are in my thoughts every second.

I take anxiety pills and sleeping pills every night but they aren’t helping.

I get 3-4 hours a sleep then I toss and turn and keep reliving the nightmare over and over.

This person didn’t just kill our two son’s he killed us that day too.

Without Todd we have no future, he was our only child.

We’ll never have any grandchildren, when we go there’s no one left. I’ll never celebrate another birthday again as they were killed on my birthday! No future, nothing to look forward to, no happiness, just sadness and emptiness.

I wish I had told Todd that “I love you” more often.

I wish we had golfed together more, it now seems like we were always in different groups.

I wish I had of spent a lot more time with him.

I wish I had of told him how proud I was of him and his accomplishments.

I miss playing cards with him at home and at the cottage.

I miss the four of us spending time together and being at the cottage relaxing and enjoying each other’s company.

I miss our talks or I’d say “I’ll talk to you about it later”.

But later never came.

I talk to him quite often now and always before I go to bed at night.

It’s just not the same and never will be again. Our lives are totally changed forever.

My empty heart will never heal.

With Todd’s skills, imagination, sense of humour he could have been anything he wanted to be.

Todd might have been an NHL coach, he could have written a script for the next hit comedy show.

We will never see what he would have become because over 60 years of his life was stolen from him.

We all had a good and loving life but now we live in a nightmare that we will never wake from. I just hope Todd and Mike are in a better place and he’s driving his truck and playing hockey and golf. I feel empty inside.

I just want him here so I can hug him. I miss him so bad.

No future without him.

He was everything, our reason for being.

The world was a better place with Todd and Mike in it!