Canadian Legislative Issues

Together with the Sun Country Highway, the Town of Banff has installed its first municipal-owned, publicly accessible electric vehicle charger. Located in the Bear Street Parkade, this charger is now one of five located in Banff. With this addition, the town now has the most electric vehicle (EV) chargers per capita in the province of Alberta.

The EV chargers are a key component of Sun Country Highway’s green network. The organization’s goal is to green Canada’s highways from coast to coast. All of its charging stations offer free charging, with the electricity being provided by the host of the location.

Sun Country Highway, together with over 100 municipalities and hundreds of businesses, is committed to expanding their EV charging network in order to allow for 90 percent of the population to be accessible by electric vehicle.


Manitoba Justice Minister, Andrew Swan, has announced that drivers caught using their hand-held electronic devices will soon be assessed two demerits. Manitoba joins eight other Canadian jurisdictions who already apply demerits for associated convictions.

Drivers caught using a hand-held device currently receive a $200 fine under Manitoba’s cellphone law, which was first announced in July 2010. Under this new regulation, demerits will impact a driver’s position on Manitoba Public Insurance’s (MPI) driver safety rating and will affect the insurance premiums payable on the driver’s license, in addition to premium discounts on registered vehicles.

The regulation is now in place and will come into effect on August 1, 2013. MPI is collaborating with police services in order to continue to raise awareness of the new legislation.