The Cougar Ace that rolled in the Gulf of Alaska has space for over 5200 vehicles. When it rolled it was only carrying about 4800. Do shipping companies usually sail with empty space if they can sell it? Why are people waiting 2 to 4 months for Ro-Ro space if ships are sailing with empty spaces? 1. Someone is pressuring the shipping lines not to accept as many used vehicles as they could. 2. Someone has bought the spaces but is not using them 3. Someone has bought the spaces simply to exclude ‘grey-market’ imports. I can think of a few ‘stakeholders’ who have the clout to do all or any of the above.
So, they’ve tried to cut off the flow that way, but it hasn’t worked. Vehicles are now coming in containers. This is no doubt the next step.
I have spoken to several senior people at TC several times and although they were always polite, it was very clear that they would like to move to a 25 year exclusion. Why?
1. 'Harmonization' with US regulations. If you're not sure why they'd want to do that, Google "North American Integration" and "Beyond NAFTA". Basically, they are going to formalize our colonial status by the back door: regulatory changes with no public discussion or debate.
2. Bureaucratic control impulse: they don't like people 'getting around' their authority/regulations. The use of large numbers of vehicles that don’t meet their standards, without any safety problems resulting, calls into question the validity/necessity of those same standards. They are waiting for that first fatal accident where someone dies in a micro Suzuki or whatever. I was told that is all it would take to shut down importing. I guess they’re tired of waiting.
3. Pressure from NA car manufacturers/sellers (this is a logical assumption) They seem to think that if we can't buy imports we'll buy some of their junk instead.
4. Liabilites, headaches, etc. Bureaucrats at all levels from CVSE to TC, naturally like the quiet life and imports just add another layer of complication without offering the potential to enlarge the bureaucracy significantly. They have their regulations and routines in place and imports open a set of issues they’d just rather not have to deal with/learn about.
I was told by people at TC that BC and Alberta are the major complainers and BC in particular. Pressure is being exerted by the ‘stakeholders’ mentioned above and CVSE is the mouthpiece for obvious reasons of ‘optics’. If TC is (also) the source of the pressure, they are covering their trail/tail and improving their chances of getting what they want past the politicians by getting the provincial authorities to raise the matter first. This is tailored to appeal to the Conservatives obviously, as coming from the western provinces, rather than an Ottawa bureaucracy inherited from the Liberals.
If TC does move to a 25 year exclusion they can do this through a change of regulations, not an act of parliament, I was told this very clearly.
Such a ban, being a change in federal regulations, will be enforced nation-wide. This is not just a “BC issue”.
