Province shouldn't pay for winter tires, MPP says

Although winter tires make driving safer the province shouldn’t have to pay for them, says an area MPP.

Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan) said while he appreciates a Winter Driving Safety Coalition call for Ontario to offer rebates on winter tires, the province is facing a huge deficit and its economy is just now slowly starting to gain traction after the worst recession since the great depression.

“We’re all interested in trying to make winter driving safer for people," Mauro said. "What they’re saying is that the government should pay for it…and I don’t think you’re going to see that happen at this point."

The coalition is made up of safety groups, automobile associations and rubber industry representatives.

Mauro said all of those groups were supportive of a motion he introduced during private member’s business at Queen’s Park telling consumers to request reduced insurance premiums from companies if they had winter tires.

This "ground-up" approach could change the insurance industry and encourage more companies to offer discounts if enough people demand it, Mauro said.

Faye Lyons, of the Canadian Automobile Association, told the Toronto Star recently that the group wanted a rebate system put in place “that is significant enough that drivers who have not equipped their vehicle with winter tires will consider doing so.”

While the coalition is asking for the rebate system, it is not asking the province to follow Quebec’s lead and make winter tires required by law. Quebec’s provincial government made snow tires mandatory for motorists of that province in 2008.

Mauro also isn’t sold on the idea of making the season-specific tires mandatory. He said Quebec already had 80 per cent of its population using winter tires when that province adopted the law. Meanwhile less than half of Ontario motorists are currently using winter tires.

Mauro added that because of the difference in weather between places like Kenora and Windsor, it would be unfair for the government to make the tires mandatory.

"To make it mandatory would have placed a very significant cost on people," he said.