For those of you who are interested, or simply curious, the next couple of messages from myself are transcripts of the Specialty Vehicle Association of Ontario's July 2003 newsletter.
Give them a read, then please hop on over to
this thread and give a yes, no, or unsure vote as to whether or not you are interested in seeing more of them as they are published.
It's not much work at all for me to post them here... just a matter of cut 'n paste.
-d.
(editor's note: to comply with YaBB SE limitations, graphics included in the original newsletter have been omitted, and minor changes have been made to formatting. other than that, I'm pasting the content in verbatim)
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July 2003
Attention: (Car Club recipients) Please forward this newsletter to your club editor for reprint in your club publication. Any and all content of our newsletter may be reproduced and we encourage you to do so. Text files are available by email in Word format - email to r.g.spencer@rogers.com or, download articles from our web site at – http://www.svao.org/ Message From The ChairChris Willans – SVAO Chairman
Summer events are coming at a fast and furious rate so I hope that everyone is out and enjoying themselves. The SVAO executive usually tries to get by with a summer holiday from meetings but certain events have meant that this summer has been an exception so far.
Bill 241 is still alive with modifications and has passed first reading during the spring session as a renumbered Bill 20. The changes include naming nitrous oxide as the substance that the Ministry does not want to see connected to street vehicles. It now provides that any vehicle with a nitrous system must have the system disconnected while on the road with no way for connecting it from inside the vehicle. The SVAO supports these changes to the Bill but still has concerns regarding the enforcement part of this legislation and so will still be working with the MTO in this regard.
Early July found some of your SVAO executive and the Minister of Transportation, Frank Klees sitting down to a very useful round table meeting. This type of meeting is very good at getting down to the facts without several layers of filtering going on. One of the first comments from the Minister was whoever was in charge of orchestrating the letter writing campaign (Bill 241) should be congratulated as the MTO had never seen anything like it. So, a pat on the back for those of you who took the time to write a letter to your MPP as well as the Minister – it worked! Not to put aside petitions (on-line or otherwise) or form letters but real, handwritten notes are what get the job done.
Other issues discussed with Mr. Klees included our proactive stance on safety as illustrated by many of our member clubs and their annual safety inspections. He was really pleased to hear about that.
We also discussed street racing and possible approaches to that problem. The SVAO told the Minister that we had a number of ideas on that issue but that we did not feel that Bill 20 was the answer. We went over our concerns with some parts of Bill 20 that don't seem to us to be the correct approach without creating more problems for some of our members. Mr. Klees responded that he was still open to suggestions from the SVAO as to Bill 20 so your executive has been meeting again on this issue.
Licensing was another topic of discussion with the Minister. He has promised to issue a clarification letter to all issuing agents so that historic plates are not being suggested to people with modified vehicles. We again brought up the idea of a "collector tag" for those
with modified vehicles or for those who did not want to be plated under the restrictions of historic plates. The SVAO has run this idea up the flagpole a few times but Mr. Klees asked us to send him the history of
this request and the points that we were proposing for future consideration.
[graphic removed]The final issue from this meeting was an invitation for the SVAO to become a member of the Transportation Policy Advisory Committee which could head off some potential future problems. The SVAO has accepted the Minister's offer and has sent off a letter to the Ministry outlining our desire to be part of that committee.
The meeting was a very positive one and the SVAO looks forward to a good working relationship with Frank Klees as the Minister of Transportation.
In conclusion, some people have asked me how a possible fall election will influence the second and third readings of Bill 20. Unfortunately my reading of tea leaves is not very good so we'll have to wait to see
if the election is called before the legislature resumes sitting or not.
Enjoy the cruising season and make sure that you and your clubs are helping the public's view of our hobby. As for me, it's time for a little northerly Nashing!
(
cont'd...)
Author