I don’t know if you have been following some of the cross border shopping stories that have been in the news recently. In particular, I am referring to some of the stories about Canadians trying to buy automobiles and snowmobiles in the U.S.

It seems that some of the larger corporations have been trying to stop Canadians from buying their vehicles in the States and then driving them north. The companies were denying Canadians warranty coverage or threatening dealers who were selling to them. Like most Canadians, I prefer to buy locally if I can. But–when a Bombardier snowmobile costs $3,000 - $4,000 less south of the border, it only makes sense to take a shopping trip south to make the purchase (for some cars, the savings are considerably higher).

The big corporations seem to have the idea that free trade should only exist if it helps them. If NAFTA works against them they want to do what they can to limit free markets. It is because of this problem that my office started work this week on a piece of legislation to protect Canadian consumers from price discrimination.

The bill that I am working on is based on the basic idea that Canadians should not be discriminated against when they buy vehicles outside of Canada. At this point, I want the law to do two basic things. First, companies must not be allowed to pressure their dealers to not sell to Canadians. Secondly, warranties should be honoured on both sides of the border.

These are just basic common sense demands that we shouldn’t have to put into law. I don’t think Canadians would stand for price discrimination based on gender, race or province of residence, and I don’t think we should accept discrimination based on the colour of our passport.

I’m Brad Trost, your MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt. I welcome your feedback, contact my offices anytime at (306) 975-6133.