.

Today the  Canwest follow-up story to the 3 part series concerning the Bathhurst tragedy focuses on Transport Canada’s lack of leadership and its inability to adopt CSA standards to protect human lives on our roads.

The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has been after Transport Canada to adopt school-bus transportion standards that they had spent years working on.

Spokesman Ron Campbell stated “The CSA  wouldn’t have gone into this if we felt those vans were providing the safety that was needed”  , he went onto state “I don’t understand why, after the Bathhurst tragedy, this hasn’t been changed”.

It appears that Transport Canada - sticks its head in the sand as Canadian Citizens die needlessly on our roads.  How much time and $$$ have Ford lobbyists spent in the offices of Transport Canada.

John Baird mintc@tc.gc.ca , Lawrence Cannon….. same fishy smell,  different name.

Since Ford is appearing to be bouncing back, promoting  a new stable of safety focused cars maybe they should either spend some time and funds to modify the Vans to the CSA standard or just stop production.

For full story: 2009-09-10gazette.pdf

Almost two years after the tragic accident that took the lives of 7 New Brunswick high school athletes Transport Canada continues to dodge the public and has not followed any of the major safety recommendations that were adopted by an inquest into the accident.

 CanWest has  let one of it’s top reporters, Richard Foot,  out on a 3-part story concerning the accident, the repercussions and the inactions of Transport Canada and all levels of Govts in Canada to protect Canadian citizens.

The 15  Passenger Ford van - referred to as a “death trap” has been “outlawed” in the United States for several years, yet only Quebec and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick has enacted laws to ban the use of these vehicles to transport school children.

Transport Canada won’t even respond to requests from  Canwest reporter Richard Foot to be interviewed.

Again we see that the “lobby” groups in Ottawa appear to be pulling all the strings.  We wonder when our politicians will wake up and start doing the right things!

The U.S. , despite its  failings in many areas always appears better tuned into consumer safety issues. 

Please take a moment and call or write  your local MP or MPP(MNA).  This 15 Passenger van is a dangerous vehicle and should not be on the road period.

Canwest Articles 2009-09-08

How can Transport Canada expend so much in resources and $$$ to prevent  Canadians from importing cars that meet U.S. safety standards, when such serious life taking issues remain unattended. 

The other day the Registrar of Imported Vehicles Launched a new  very Consumer Friendly Website. 

The site features easier access to information and a “Check-list” feature that new or first time importers will really like. Canadian Import Brokers will probably use it in order to demonstrate to their customers, a clear description of their services.

Try it out and let us know what you think. 

Maybe they should put out a media press release….

 What a nice hatchet job Transport Canada and The Montreal Gazette appear to be doing to the maker of the ZENN car.

If you missed it here is the article. and the link to the TC site.

Why am I not surprised that the Transport Canada spokesperson highlighted in Allison Lambert’s article today prefers to remain anonymous. Most of us that have been following the work of this Government group over the last year or so highly suspect their findings and their overall intentions.

Is the reporter not aware that these vehicles are allowed for use in British Columbia? Is the reporter not aware that Transportation Canada has “flipped-flopped” on the acceptability of ZENN vehicles several times over the last few years?

Why didn’t the reporter interview the likes of Kash Ram or other senior officials at Transportation Canada to understand and report the real story?

Why is Transport Canada and the Gazette spending so much time and effort to discredit ZENN. Are they being encouraged by the “Big Three” , their office towers full of overpaid lobbyists, and the millions of dollars of advertising revenues they fear losing?

What would happen to a motorcycle or scooter under the same situation? Are they recommending that motorcycles now be used exclusively on bicycle paths?

What about all the other Electric vehicles that Transportation Canada has approved for use and are being used in British Columbia?

By the way, does Transport Canada still have the Ford Van that was banned by the U.S. Safety Department 8 years ago and was involved in the recent deaths in New Brunswick on it’s ok safety list?

Maybe it is time to revisit why our hard earned tax dollars go into funding this Federal Department.

Maybe it is time to reallocate these resource dollars to the provinces, where they appear to belong.

A new list has been issued dated October 21st.

 Take a look at the following differences report.  I guess the folks at Transport Canada have nothing to do anymore so they gave all 3,000 or so employees the chance to change the list all on the same day!

What a mess.   And what does it really mean.  It would be nice if they had the brains to issue a note indicating what the significant changes were, but we are pretty sure they don’t know themselves.   “DIG IN”  Mr. Baird!

diffdoc2008-10-01and2008-10-21.pdf