Car import levy in the works for Nunavut, GN official says

Art Stewart, the Department of Economic Development and Transportation’s director of transportation policy and planning, at an Iqaluit City Council meeting Oct. 12. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

People who register new vehicles imported into Nunavut may soon pay up front for their car’s future disposal, says an official with the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Economic Development and Transportation.

The ED&T department’s transportation policy and planning director, Art Stewart, appeared Oct. 12 before Iqaluit City Council to explain a GN proposal to impose an “end-of-life vehicle fee” on motor vehicles imported into the territory.

“The regulation will be a territorial-wide program that imposes a fee on each vehicle upon the initial registration of a motor vehicle in Nunavut,” Stewart said.

The fee will help communities pay for the removal of old cars, Stewart said, pointing out that many Nunavut municipalities struggle with the cost of shipping end-of-life vehicles back to the South.

That means communities end up storing old vehicles in landfills indefinitely. Even worse, many vehicles are abandoned by their owners and end up contaminating the environment, Stewart said.

A bill to amend Nunavut’s Motor Vehicle Act and allow the GN to impose the levy will be introduced during the upcoming legislative assembly sitting this fall, he said.

From there, the GN will fix the price of the fee through a series of consultations with communities and other stakeholders.

“The intent of the end-of-life fee revenue will cover the administration and removal costs,” Stewart said.

The City of Iqaluit’s estimated “cost recovery” fee of $1,080 to dispose of old cars—included in its proposed Consolidated Fees Bylaw—seems “very fair”, Stewart added.

Stewart said the GN will consider allowing people to pay the levy in smaller annual installments—such as $200 installments paid over five years.

And owners may receive a rebate if they decide to ship their cars back down south on their own dime.

Car owners who don’t pay the fee will risk having their vehicle registration revoked, Stewart said.

Stewart said he expects the new legislation to be passed sometime in the winter, with the disposal fees and other details being solidified in the months following.

Coun. Terry Dobbin, who has argued against increasing the city’s current $200 disposal fee, said a $1,000 charge for new vehicles is not “totally unreasonable.”

“Most of these new vehicles are $40,000 or $50,000,” Dobbin said.

“I don’t think $1,080 is unreasonable for newer vehicles. Yes, [it’s] unreasonable for existing, lower price vehicles.”

Deputy Mayor Romeyn Stevenson, filling in for Mayor Madeleine Redfern, who is travelling, said the proposed pan-Nunavut legislation would not affect the city’s current plan to explore its own front-end disposal levy.

“That would take place long before this legislation. After [it passes], we would have to pass some exemption on cars that have already paid,” he told council.

Councillors are expected to continue discussing the city’s proposed $1,000 car disposal fee in the coming weeks when the third reading of the Consolidated Fees Bylaw is brought before council.