Big Brother Discovers the Aftermarket

There’s a new law coming in Ontario, and it should concern everyone in the Canadian automotive aftermarket, from coast to coast to coast. It’s called Bill 241, and if it goes into law, it could be the beginning of a long battle for independent shop survival. Here’s why: The bill originated after a series of street racing accidents reported widely in the Toronto media. The illegal street-racing scene in Toronto isn’t new; its current form involves sport compacts, generally from Japanese manufacturers, that are modified with everything from outrageous wings to nitrous oxide injection systems. While the accidents that result from street racing are as tragic as any death from illegal activity, the provincial government’s approach to what may or may not be a street-racing problem is truly frightening. They’re proposing to prohibit performance-enhancing parts and accessories like nitrous systems. So what, you say? The parts and accessories that will be banned will be determined not by the legislation, but later, probably as a regulation, making it impossible to determine just what the government thinks a performance enhancing part is. There are spark plugs and wire sets out there that could show a performance improvement on a dyno pull. They could be effectively banned. In fact, handled carelessly or with malice, this law could ban aftermarket parts entirely from critical engine and chassis systems if they could be deemed to enhance vehicle performance. A likely scenario is this: The current law proves unworkable, mainly because of the difficulty in proving whether or not a part enhances vehicle performance. Another teenager dies. The provincial government moves to require that engines and vehicles remain in their stock configurations. Aftermarket manufacturers, worried about the liability issues in selling parts that may be deemed to be “non-stock”, reduce their product offerings. Independents find themselves locked into dealer parts. This would happen slowly, very slowly and would create little public outcry.

In fact, an uninformed public might contribute to the problem. Politically, it’s even scarier, because the “spin doctors” can win both ways, rather like gun control legislation: “If it works, great, let have more legislation. If it doesn’t, well, I guess we need more legislation.” And if politicians in Ontario can win with this issue, other provinces won’t be far behind.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and to their credit, the auto manufacturers and new car dealers haven’t taken advantage of this for their own gain, but that could be an outcome as an unintended consequence of this legislation. The AIA is working with SEMA on this issue, so there is hope that it could be averted, but in the end, we have to move to some level of customer responsibility for how they drive what they drive. I own a 5.0 litre Mustang, but you don’t see me “laying patches” outside the Dairy Queen. Legislate idiocy, not parts.