Could this happen in Canada ?

[mibaro2]

I'm sure most of you are aware that NJ blocked Tesla from selling its cars in that state. The funny/sad thing about this is that they are blocking an American made car from being sold...not an import.

I don't know how the Canadian automotive industry is setup (even though I've lived here all my life), but I was wondering...could this happen in Canada ? Could a province block Tesla from selling directly to people? Or is the automotive industry Federally regulated, and it would be an all or none situation.

On another side note...which companies does the government regulate as to how they can sell their products? Dell Computers sold directly to the consumer for a long time solely over the internet. Is it because the automotive industry is so big that it has all this clout with the government?

Michael

 

[mknox]

I'm not an expert on this, but I don't believe the franchise laws are as stringent here. I believe that some dealerships here are, in fact, already owned by the manufacturers in some instances.

 

[shiny]

I'm not an expert on this, but I don't believe the franchise laws are as stringent here. I believe that some dealerships here are, in fact, already owned by the manufacturers in some instances.

I believe most Benz stores in Canada are corporately owned....

 

[Canuck]

This happened in NJ because:

"The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission approved a rule change Tuesday that would require auto retailers to have a franchise agreement with an auto manufacturer to be granted a license to sell cars in the state"

So technically the same rule could be imposed in Canada, most appropriately (or inappropriately) it would be at the federal level since they regulate competition. "Canadian franchising is subject to a variety of unrelated federal and provincial regulations. Federal legislation includes laws governing competition, income tax, packaging and labelling, privacy, foreign investment and intellectual property (IP) statutes. Applicable provincial laws govern franchise disclosure, sales tax, liquor licensing, class-action and for Quebec's franchisees, the Charter of the French Language of Quebec and the Quebec Civil Code."

It could potentially be sneaked into various regulations, even easier than the States since Tesla is a foreign interest, and don't think the lobby groups are not reviewing all of our regulations for a proper (or improper) fit. The good thing is that our politicians are more accountable to the people than in the States where lobbying is out of control and politicians are bought and sold. That's not to say that ours are not, but this is such idiotic legislation that it takes a different type of lobbying culture to sneak this through, and it was sneaked through in NJ, on barely any notice:

[Tesla] blamed New Jersey's dealer coalition for quietly pushing their agenda with regulators, rather than in a public, legislative forum. Tesla executives had only learned about the commissioners' meeting in the last "72 hours," "Clearly, a decision was made rather abruptly and certainly without any consultation with us," [Tesla] said. "There are a couple levels of bad faith and surreptitious behavior."

Good 'ol American style politics at work! I say it's unlikely to happen here. I hope!

 

[jerry33]

Note that New Jersey also doesn't allow self-service gas stations. An attendant must pump the gas for you.

 

[mibaro2]

@Canuck , Thanks for throwing some light on this abrupt change in NJ.

Glad our politicians are more accountable.

 

[mknox]

Note that New Jersey also doesn't allow self-service gas stations. An attendant must pump the gas for you.

I believe that is also true in New Brunswick, Canada.

EDIT: Maybe not all of the province, but I recall there were some areas that didn't allow it when I was there a few years back.

 

[c041v]

Not as far as I am aware. I used to live there and as recently as last year, I still gassed up on my own.

 

[mknox]

Not as far as I am aware. I used to live there and as recently as last year, I still gassed up on my own.

I forget exactly where it was, but I was out there on vacation and got out to fill my car at what I thought was a self-serve station when the attendant ran out and told us that there was a law against self-serve in the province/county/city (can't remember which) due to some situation where a guy blew up a station filling his own car or some such thing. That was about 10 years ago, so it may be different now.

 

[Doug_G]

I think Cape Breton is all full serve?