Toronto, Ontario — The battle for the Right to Repair is far from over, according to AIA Canada president J.F. Champagne who says that while the federal snap election has thrown a wrench into things, AIA is ready to take to the frontlines to keep this issue in focus for candidates.
When Prime Minister Trudeau dissolved parliament on Aug. 15, kicking off an abbreviated election season, a couple of bills got swept off the table that Champagne would very much like to see as key election issues for candidates across all parties.
Champagne led a webinar on Tuesday morning outlining AIA’s plans for the upcoming election and how they plan on bringing data rights into the spotlight.
AIA is hoping to make sure that bills C-11 and C-272 make their way into the platforms of all party representatives by the Sept. 20 election day.
Bill C-11 aims to establish “rules to govern the protection of personal information in a manner that recognizes the right of privacy of individuals with respect to their personal information and the need of organizations to collect, use or disclose personal information.”
This bill seeks to acknowledge both the need to protect personal data privacy, but also that circumstances exist where an individual would want to disclose their data to a commercial party, like a collision centre for the purpose of repairs.
Champagne named Edmonton centre Conservative MP James Cumming as one of the champions of bill C-11, as AIA strives to work alongside representatives working directly in parliament.
In further emphasizing the bi-partisan nature of the Right to Repair issue, Champagne also recognized Cambridge, Ont. Liberal MP Bryan May as a key figure leading the charge on C-272, which aims to amend aspects of the Copyright Act to better align with the movement.
As it stands, AIA Canada has more than 42,000 signatures on a change.org petition to have the federal government take notice of this issue and implement changes to protect the business of Canadian collision centres.
Last week, AIA Canada launched a letter-writing campaign to encourage voters to reach out to their local representatives and bring Right to Repair to their attention.
