MLA votes against government on ATV issue
GUYSBOROUGH - MLA Ronnie Chisholm isn't known for going against his government, but the Guyborough - Sheet Harbour representative says he felt he had to on the minority government's revised ATV legislation.
"I firmly believe that the committee should have gone with the original bill," he said during an interview Tuesday. That draft legislation would have allowed children under 14 operate ATVs of a limited size, provided they had a training course and were under parental supervision on their own property.
"For a lot of rural families, such as those in my riding, it's a family activity," explains Chisholm. "I have a grandson who has a small ATV that he's not allowed to drive under this legislation," he said. "But if I buy him a snowmobile or a dirtbike, he's allowed to drive it…It seems that they're targeting one group of off-highway vehicle users."
Amendments to the legislation introduced by the NDP ban the operation of any ATVs by those under 14. Chisholm says he doesn't think that children operating a vehicle of the proper size for them is a problem. He says problems arise when children try to operate an ATV that's too big or too powerful for them to handle.
The amended legislation achieved majority approval in the legislature and the new regulations come into effect April 1, 2006. Chisholm notes that the new legislation means it's impossible to provide safety training for children under 14, because they aren't allowed to be on the vehicles.
"Even to train them at that age you're breaking the law," he says. The legislation also requires all ATV users to have taken a safety course by April 1, something Chisholm says is impossible given the brief time frame.
Chisholm was one of five MLAs voting against the legislation.
"I'm not happy with it," he says, noting that these kinds of compromises are the reality of the minority government situation.
