SPEED LIMITERS * Canada - OOIDA blasts PQ Minister for reneging on. Promises to sue

"If Minister Boulet follows through with this announcement, thousands of truckers throughout Canada and the U.S. will effectively be barred from operating in Quebec. That is a serious anti-competitive move that cannot go unchallenged”

Grain Valley,MO,USA -Today's Trucking (CAN) -5 Nov 2008: -- Quebec's Transport Minister Julie Boulet has backed out of a promise to hold off on mandatory speed limiters until other Canadian jurisdictions jump on board the bandwagon, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is complaining... So far, Ontario is the only other province to pass speed limiter legislation requiring truckers to set engine speed settings to 105 km/h. And both provinces are aiming for a 'soft enforcement" implementation date of Jan. 1, 2009... In a press release, OOIDA denounced Boulet for the "changé l'esprit"... Last December, Quebec trucker and OOIDA member Jean Catudal insists he was given assurances by transport officials that Quebec would hold off on its proposed rule until the rest of Canada enacted similar legislation and Transport Canada released its own studies on the effectiveness and safety issues of speed limiters... Transport Canada unveiled that series of reports this past summer, and while an initial press release from the minister's office chose to tout the environmental benefits of speed limiters, the completed studies, when read fully, don't exactly paint a rosy picture of mandatory engine governors... (Picture: OOIDA hopes Ontario and Quebec's speed limiter plans aren't infectious and spread to south of the border)