A Gentleman's Wager - The PC's are about to screw us (again)

The bet goes like this: a private members bill to enforce the “right to repair” already half way through the house of commons with 80%approval by all parties will now not be supported by the PC’s. Industry Minister Tony Clement says the bill is now unnecessary. Instead the automakers will be allowed to police themselves under a voluntary deal that will allow out-side garages access to the technology they need to fix the latest cars. Now I think we can at least agree that voluntary agreements between government and industry have at best a chequered record of success; in many cases they have been a sham. In the US there is an agreement of this type in place now but it includes a third party arbitration process established to resolve disputes. In Canada we will have no such body and the car companies can opt out of the agreement at any time. Had the existing bill been passed the Competition Bureau, a federal watchdog would have become the arbiter of disputes in Canada. Given that Mr. Clement and his party no longer support the legislation it has no hope of passing and with it goes any oversight of the auto industry with regard to “right of repair”. In Burlington the ownership of car dealerships is concentrated in very few hands and the owners of these companies cannot be expected to welcome the advent of the “right to repair” which will take effect in May 2010. If the program works out as Mr. Clement envisions us new car owners should have many more options for the servicing and repair of our vehicles. However the program is crafted to make access available to only to “several after-market repair groups”. One assumes that Joe’s local garage won’t meet that criteria so we can’t be too optimistic that our repair cost are going to go down as our options go up. I’m willing to bet that when all the details of the non-binding deal are out, consumers are not going to be too impressed. In fact my gentleman’s bet goes further than that. My call is that this voluntary deal will be as much of a sham as any we have seen. And to Dorsal I would just say that while my Liberals are admitedly dysfunctional at both levels of government right now, they lack the guile to screw you intentionally - it just sorta happens.  The same can't be said of your mind-bending spin doctors.  It's good to be back in the groove!   -------   AH