Oakville Amateur Radio Club

The following is an update from those involved in the process on behalf of Canadian Amateurs.
Please go to http://www.racblog.wordpress.com to keep updated on the progress of this bill.

Hi Vince, Thanks for the kind words about the Radio Amateurs of Canada blog at www.racblog.wordpress.com

As its moderator, it's my intention to use the blog to create a national online conversation among all hams whether or not they are members of RAC.

To that end I am inviting comments or postings from hams across Canada. I'd invite everyone who is interested in ham radio in Canada to drop by on a weekly basis and read what's new.

In regards to Bill 118, the most recent information I can offer right now is we -- read that to mean me :) are in talks with Ministry of Transport staff this month. These are the folks who are creating the wording which will create exemptions to the Bill. They appear to be very sympathetic to our request for an exemption. We are also gathering information about those MPPs who are in support of exemptions and who are not. Comments made by the minister and other members to the news media right now should not be consider the final word as there are many, many ordinary folks unhappy to have their cell phone behavior curtailed by legislation. This creates a political problem for the MPPs who are bearing the brunt of the calls and emails. Now wouldn't be a great time to go and ask them directly for their support for an exemption for amateur radio use. Our thought is to let the public get used to the idea (this is part of the reason for the government delaying the implementation) and for us to work with the staff in the crafting of wording that would work for us and the ministry.

I'm encouraged by the exemptions won by hams who worked together in other jurisdictions (Hawaii being the most recent) and I am confident we can do the same here in Ontario.

Thanks again Vince. You're doing great work here on behalf of all Ontario hams.

73

Peter West - VE3HG
905-616-5639
ve3hg@rac.ca
Vice-President, Public Relations
Radio Amateurs of Canada

-----Original Message-----
From: Vince d'Eon [mailto:vince@vincedeon.com]
Sent: April 24, 2009 11:45 AM
To: 'AJ'; 'Barbara Elliot'; 'Brian Kremer'; 'Jeff Richardson VA3QSL'; 'NARC
News Letter'; ve3hpl@rac.ca; exec@hamiltonarc.ca
Cc: ve3hg@rac.ca; va3qv@rac.ca
Subject: Bill 118 passed third reading this week

Folks,
For immediate distribution to your memberships.

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Fellow Ontario Amateurs,
I was approached by many of you at recent HamFests in Brampton and Whitby talking to me about Bill 118. I appreciate your thanks and your commentary for my efforts thus far. As a witness to the 118 committee, I had help in the background to write up the presentation I gave, and many thanks to Peter, Andy and the others for their input and wordsmithing.

Ontario's Bill 118 passed it's third reading this week. This is the legislation that tells us to put down our hand-held communications devices and drive. This was an expected event and on the heels of it's sister regulation, Bill 126. According to the media and RAC, Bill 118 is expected to have royal assent and become law this autumn.

Yet there is not a current specific exemption for Radio Amateurs. The *ONLY* exemption within 118 is for Emergency First Responders. There is a hint within the bill that states the Minister may make regulations "prescribing the devices" and "prescribing persons, classes of persons, devices, activities..." -- and this is where our hopeful exemption clauses will fit in. While I am not a lawyer nor a lawmaker, it makes better sense to me to have the exemptions as a small "plug-in-module" (pardon the term) that can easily be opened and closed for change rather than re-opening a much larger piece of legislation such as 118.

VA3QV's weblog http://va3qv.wordpress.com/ has also been following this issue and is offering commentary.

For me the issue is clearly a loss of our Federally Granted Priviledges, but also the lack of clarity around enforcement and definition of a "hand-held device". When I witnessed to committee I brought along a mobile VHF radio and a handi-talkie. I pointed out the potential for confusion during enforcement on what exactly constitutes hand-held electronics. As Hams we all know that a Microphone is a hand-held electronic device used for communicating despite the fact that it's connected to a larger radio. Perhaps I'm taking the point to an extreme, but what I tried to point out was that the legislation needed better definition so that enforcement wasn't an issue. VA3QV's blog also agrees that enforcement is currently a challenge given the current wording. One of the MPPs on committee asked me to propose better wording, but I told them simply I am not a lawmaker and this is best left to their experts to properly define devices and spell them out clearly. Pure speculation on my part to say, but perhaps this clarity will come with the "plug-in" module(s) of regulation the Minister of Transportation will hopefully introduce before the fall.

I have been communicating at length with different individuals from RAC and encouraging them to communicate more to the non-membership in Ontario. RAC has started a new blog service http://racblog.wordpress.com and the issue has been well captured there. Others within RAC tell me that the issue has been very top of mind with them for some time despite outward appearances to the non-membership. Further, we were told on the Procomm Net last evening by Allan Boyd VE3AJB, Ontario ARES Section Manager, that there is a committee of RAC and ARES folks due to meet with the Ministry of Transportation to continue to push the exemption request via the Minister's supplementary legislation. It is my opinion that RAC would garner many more members if non-members knew what was going on more than they do today.

So our current marching orders come directly from the RAC weblog: " Having said all that, there are no guarantees, however, now is not the time to approach members of the Legislature or the minister as they will not have seen the changes which are likely to be written in to the Bill in the next few months.

If exemptions are not forthcoming, then there may well be a need for direct communications but that time has not arrived.

Again I'd invite interested members of Ontario's amateur radio community to keep in touch with Radio Amateurs of Canada and I'd be pleased to receive any emails directly to ve3hg@rac.ca"

Thank you for your continued interest and support in this matter.

73 de VE6LK / VE3LKV
...Vince d'Eon
Hamilton ON
905.528.4870

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73,

Brian VE3DNF
Webmaster
Oakvilleamateurs.net