I recently purchase Mitsubishi Minicabs from the state of Minnesota and brought them into Ontario for resale. My truck were titled as off road/ATV by the state of Minnesota and because of this it has been a battle to get these trucks on the road in Ontario. Well I was finally allow to register my trucks today after two months of phone calls, letters and email but the sad news is I was told that there is legislation pending from the Federal government to halt the import of this type of vehicle and to have existing trucks removed from the road. The Federal government feels that this type of vehicle is getting into Canada because of a "loop hole". The trucks are over 15 years of age and because of this they are exempt from the Import Register Vehicle Program therefore do not have to comply with Federal Safety Standards. The government is concerned that with the increase in vehicles of this type entering Canada there will be more deaths as a result. I was told today by "special vehicle operations" of Ontario (the people that decide what is allowed on the road in Ontario) that the Federal government will put legislation forward prohibiting the operation of this type of vehicle. I was told this could be in a year or could be 5 years, they didn't know when it would happen but said it definitely would. Sorry for the sad news. If everyone makes enough noise and there are an overwhelmingly number of trucks on the road maybe this could be reversed. Dave
See this other board for discussion of legal matters of imported vehicles: http://www.ivoac.ca/pn/ There's nothing new in the "rumours" section of the forums there concerning this, and there is a thread in which something like this was discussed: http://www.ivoac.ca/pn/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=1925 If you have any supporting documents or contact information concerning this matter, perhaps you should mention it over there.
Contact Transport Canada or the talk to your local Ontario licensing office and ask them to contact the "Kingston office". Hear is for yourself. It's not a rumor. This is pending legislation and was told it will happen.
If it's pending legislation that suggests to me that it needs to be voted on? Which would seem to be an opportunity to educate the elected officials of the sense of KEI-type vehicles. As has been said in other places in our forum, these vehicles WERE designed for highway use originally. Not like you're trying to license a bulldozer to drive on a multilane highway!
Any such change would require changes to the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, among other things, and that would have to be something voted upon by parliament (specifically, the federal government). I am looking through the Canada Gazette right now for any evidence of proposed and enacted changes to motor vehicle regulations, and I'm seeing a whole bunch of other things, but not anything related to this in any proposed regulations. That means there's nothing (that I can find) in front of parliament right now as far as this is concerned. If you can find something in the Gazette that eluded my search on "motor vehicle", post up. This in no way implies that lower levels of the bureaucracy (example, that Kingston office) aren't working on proposals for the future, but it would have to be put before the next government (we are sure to have a federal election soon) and this would take some time to put in place. It's known that Transport Canada wants to have ALL imported vehicles subject to the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, not just those newer than 15 years - but this is not anything new, either. Again, this is something that would have to be voted on by parliament to put it into effect. (For example, the recent changes to implement "low speed vehicles" and the changes to the rear bumper standards are easily found in the Gazette.) Given that we are sure to have an election soon, this is something to discuss with your local candidates. I have a funny feeling that in the current economic situation, this will be rather low on the priority list of the federal government.
Wow Well that sucks! If Ya'll would just move "south of the border" you could cruise in style! And legal too! ....in some states. Oh yea, on one condition though...................I think it's illlegal to say "Eh?" in the USA.......and is punishable by hefty fines. Or, at least I think I heard something like that..... Your situation is really sad to hear though, I kinda figured that Can'ada would really jump on the wagon "so to speak" about Kei Trucks since its a more "Greener" country than the USA is.
I'm not sure if it was you who I spoke to a few weeks ago.. But netherless someone called me up a few weeks ago talking about importing vehicles classified as ATV's from the US and trying to get them registered for road use.. Minitrucks with ATV ownerships from the US are not supposed to be legal for registration in Ontario hence your uphill battle getting them registered for Ontario road use.. Doing it the proper way, purchasing from either a supplier in Canada or importing direct from Japan would have saved you the trouble.. As well, I'm sure your months long dealings with the MTO have no doubt added fuel to the fire. No matter what they say, there is no legislation pending. If there was, it would be in the gazette. I'm sure its being discussed in the back rooms at government offices but there is nothing official yet.. Althought I have to agree that there is a possibility that the government will step in and "attempt" to do something about japanese imports in general (not just the minitrucks) in the future.. A year or two ago, the issue of banning was hot topic and the federal government was close to tabling a motion. But things have cooled of much since then, to the point where the Federal government has put this on the back burners and are just letting the provinces deal with it themselves. I believe this has much to do with the fact that the provinces initiating programs in dealing with RHD imports. ie. NWT have just enacted an inspection program for RHD vehicles with generally fair guidelines. I would say everything is safe for at least another two years... Just make sure everyone drives carefully.. Don't want to draw unnecessary attention. But removing all minitrucks off the road is ludicrous.. They might as well remove all the Hino cab over trucks as well, those are basically the same thing!
Follow this link http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/index.html then click on "feedback" and write your concern. Get the answer I received. I was told this wasn't going to happen overnight but definitely going to happen at a Federal level.
The other point of view This is a c/p from ivoac.ca forum from someone very knowledgable. rockcrete posted on Aug. 10/08:
I sure hope you guys are right about this. I just started selling some of these trucks and we use one for picking up parts for the shop. Saves us a bundle on fuel compared to the 3/4 truck we normally use.
