Industry Committee on Nov. 14th, 2022

[Derek Willshire]

It's important to reiterate that all that interests us is information about vehicle maintenance or repair. We have no interest in consumer driving habits.

I'm in favour of the suggestion to involve people working in cybersecurity. I'm absolutely convinced that, with good discussions, we can find a way to provide the information safely and without any risk to the consumer.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Recycling and recovery of electronic materials, known as urban mining, must be done correctly. In this sense, the automotive industry is an important player in the implementation of the circular economy.

How could Bill C‑244 help your industry in this respect?

[Tyler Blake Threadgill]

We believe this legislation is a great first step towards a larger right-to-repair regime. That's why we are supportive of it. We do think more needs to be done, ultimately, to prevent VIN burning and to allow true sharing of that right-to-repair data.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

What do you think could be done to increase the recovery and reuse of automotive and electronic parts?

Can Bill C‑244 be helpful in this respect? What could we improve to do more?

[Derek Willshire]

Reusing parts from the 900,000 automobiles that we recycle and dismantle each year has two enormous and very beneficial consequences.

First, I've heard all my colleagues today talk about environmental concerns. We are giving a second life to parts that would otherwise have ended up in landfills.

Second, we're in an inflation situation. When there's an opportunity to make repairs safely and affordably, it helps the entire industry, both consumers who have insurance policies and the insurance companies themselves.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

What impact is the emergence of electric vehicles likely to have on your industry and your relationships with automobile manufacturers and dealers? Will it create more friction?

[Tyler Blake Threadgill]

There will certainly be some impact. These cars will still have to be repaired, so lot of the same issues will continue moving forward, specifically with recycling. Recycling a battery is going to be very different from recycling an engine, for instance. That is something we are working on and will be able to do.

As a whole, an electric car is still a car. It's still going to need to be repaired. Those repairs may become more expensive. There are fewer parts in an electric motor, but they do tend to be more expensive. Being able to offer independent repair is going to be increasingly more important as we move into an electrified fleet.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

As a member of Parliament for a rural area, I know that access to specialized repairers is often more difficult. As a result, in the aftermarket industry, and particularly in the case of vehicles, there are two factors to consider right now: price and labour shortages.

How is your industry helping to make services accessible and affordable for consumers?

[Derek Willshire]

Over the last two years, no one has escaped the supply chain disruption caused by the COVID‑19 pandemic.

For our part, we've invested several millions of dollars to ensure that we have a good inventory of parts at competitive prices, always with safety as a priority.

As you said, you're from a rural area. Most Canadians don't live in cities like Toronto or Montreal either, and they don't always have access to repair services for certain vehicles. It's critical to think not only about the 491,000 employees of small- and medium-sized rural auto repair businesses, but also about all the Canadian consumers who will have to travel to the city for routine maintenance. You spoke earlier about VIN burning. In Canada, when tires are rotated, sometimes the tire pressure monitoring system needs to be recalibrated, for example after the left front tire is installed on the right rear wheel. This is starting to be more common than you might think. It's inconvenient for the consumer.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Thank you very much, Mr. Lemire.

Mr. Williams, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Thank you very much.

I want to follow up on my colleague's question about VIN burning. How widespread is VIN burning in the auto industry right now?

[Tyler Blake Threadgill]

It's fairly widespread now, and it's something that we see growing. We think that if there is not a true right-to-repair regime put into place, it's just going to become a greater issue as these cars become more technologically advanced.

Parts need to be able to talk to each other. As I mentioned before, that side-view mirror used to be just a mirror. The average car on the road is 12 years old, so it may not impact those cars. For the cars that are newer, with a motor, a sensor or a heater, it's coming into play in those parts.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Is it possible that VIN burning will spread to other industries besides car manufacturing, like personal electronics, home appliances and heavy machinery?

[Tyler Blake Threadgill]

I can't speak to that personally, but I would assume so.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

I wanted to get into warranties. We heard about the right to repair possibly opening up the voiding of warranties. I think it was only with the horsepower modification.

In what other instances could a warranty be voided based on right to repair?

[John Schmeiser]

If a DEF delete kit is installed on an off-road vehicle, then it would be void there, as well. It's pretty much any alteration to the manufacturer's OEM specifications or standards that voids the warranty.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

What I'm hearing is that we have customer choice in giving options.

When we're looking at amendments on this on warranties, there are new cars, old cars, new equipment and old equipment. The right to repair seems to be good when something's out of warranty. When a vehicle or piece of equipment is a little older, then we need to get that repaired. However, a new vehicle seems to be where the warranty could be voided and where there are environmental implications.

Tell me a little bit more about what you see from this bill, particularly with regard to new equipment, older equipment and the ability for people to get something repaired whether it's new or old.

[John Schmeiser]

You know, there's a school of thought in our industry. If you're a customer and you bought a brand new combine—one manufacturer's combine runs at $1 million right now—then you'd be a fool to alter that in any way to void the warranty.

We're not dealing with consumer electronics or an appliance. The manufacturers are great at honouring their warranties. The dealers typically put the products with warranties at the front of the list in terms of repair because it's a competitive business and they want to take care of their customers. We don't really see a lot of correlation between warranty and the right to repair. We see them as two separate issues.

The right to repair, in terms of modification when it's used equipment, has become a bigger issue than customers' not getting warranties on their new pieces of equipment.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

In terms of a customer who is looking to use the right to repair on an older piece of equipment, is there really an issue with that?

[John Schmeiser]

We don't think that there is, because of the industry commitment. Perhaps the biggest issue is the lack of education from our industry to the customers on what's available.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Chair, there's no more interpretation at the moment. Would it be possible to ensure that everything is working?

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Okay, thank you. I'll ask that the clerk ensure that the interpretation is working.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

The interpreter is signalling to me that it's working again. I think that it should be fine.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Perfect.

Mr. Schmeiser, you may continue.