Dec 05
Last Chance to sign the petition! over 1,000 canadian names - 250 can. cities!
This is your last chance to sign our petition prior to our submission to the Transport Canada Public Consultations! Less than 14 hours to go. Please encourage your friends and family to sign-up! Just click Here! Write in and let us know if you want us to keep it going!
We just exceed 11,200 hits on the web site, covering 25 countries around the world! 44,500 web pages, 250 Canadian cities - we have exceeded the 1,000 names in the petition - Bring down the wall!
December 5th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Its about time someone spoke for the common person. Please keep it going as this effects us in more ways than we realize. The auto manufacturers must not be allowed to bully the common person by forcing them to pay substantially high prices against the free trade principles by creating road blocks by either using regulations created by Tc or charging huge$$ to provide recall and complaince letters and restricting the dealers in the USa to sell to Canadians. Fairness and justice must prevail. Govt of Canada must step in to stand up for common person( consumers)
December 6th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
This is a copy of an email I sent to these gentlemen today in response to an email I sent to them in early November:
The Honorable D. Emerson, L. Cannon, J. Prentice, S. Harper
Thank you for your reply. I am a private business owner and I price the service I sell to reflect local market conditions; however, my clients are free to go anywhere to obtain the service I offer from other providers. If they choose to take their business to another geographic location and I find I no longer have clients willing to pay the fees I charge, I can either decide to shut my business down or lower my prices in the hope my former clients will return and use my business. Naturally, my first instinct would be to seek Government assistance to regulate the services I offer to insure my clients could not obtain the service I offer in another geographic area. This would maintain the status quo. Unfortunately, if this was my philosophy, I would only want assistance from the Government when it seems to benefit me and I would not want the Government to intervene if the intervention could cost me some benefit.
While you appear to be of the view the Government has not played a role in assisting Manufacturers of products covered under the NAFTA agreement and sold on both sides of the border to maintain the Status Quo (i.e. higher prices for identical products in Canada as compared to the US), I beg to differ. If there were no restrictions relating to products covered under NAFTA, the Canadian and US markets would be harmonized. Clearly, the Canadian Government has regulated the flow of NAFTA products through developing standards for some products sold in Canada that are not required for the same products sold in the US. While the intent of some of these regulations may have been to benefit Canadian consumers it is not clear the regulations actually result in the intended benefit but this is a matter for a different discussion.
What is worrisome about the policies of various manufacturers and the complicity of the Government is this:
1. Canadians by virtue of their citizenship are being denied the opportunity to purchase new vehicles in the US. If this does not concern you as a democratically elected Member of Parliament who is the Minister of International Trade in a country whose largest trading partner has organizations engaged in business on both sides of the border, I would be very concerned.
2. Canadians by virtue of their citizenship are being denied warranty in Canada on some new vehicles purchased in the US if they import the vehicle to Canada. A citizen from the US having purchased an identical vehicle in the US and who travels to Canada on business or while on a vacation is able to obtain warranty coverage in Canada. Notwithstanding this apparent inequity, I understand a US Citizen could purchase a new vehicle in Canada and import the vehicle to the US and receive warranty service without question although I believe the number of new vehicles being purchased at retail prices for export from Canada by US citizens is actually zero. Perhaps US citizens prefer to purchase vehicles in geographic locations where they can get the best price.
3. There is a significant price disparity based on geographic location for identical products that cannot be explained. Manufacturers are relying on the difficulties consumers are having with importation to prop up their pricing strategies. Without the impasse created by the Government with respect to importation, Canadian prices would fall significantly. This has nothing to do with pricing strategies developed by entrepreneurs and everything to do with importation restrictions and documentation requirements.
In summary, I do not agree with your assertion the Government has not played a role in preserving the status quo for many manufacturers through restrictive importation requirements and regulations. If there were no barriers to the free movement of goods across the border, prices and standards would ultimately harmonize and real entrepreneurs would develop competitive sales strategies to sell their products at prices that would not penalize a citizen for his or her citizenship. Clearly, the role of an elected Member of Parliament is to stand up for the rights of Canadians and take to task any organization operating in a country signatory to NAFTA that seeks to limit or deny access to products based on citizenship.
Regards,
Tim Hall
December 7th, 2007 at 2:00 am
Keep on going, good job guys!
December 9th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Definitely, keep it going. Everything was done legally. All the rules were followed.
Cy