If you’ve ever had sticker shock after getting your phone fixed, Bradford council is pushing to make things better.
On Wednesday, the town sent out a release about council’s resolution to “endorse the right-to-repair movement” and in a letter council called on the federal government to expedite consultations to “enshrine this principle in consumer-protection law,” and asked for “specific consultations and measures related to supporting the agricultural sector.”
Right to repair refers to the concept of a legal right for owners of devices such as automobiles, electronics, and farm equipment to freely modify and repair them without restrictions or requirements to use only the manufacturer's maintenance services, restrictions over access to tools or components, or digital barriers.
“Our council has shown in recent years that we are at the forefront of advocating for important environmental protections, ... and we are grateful to our new Green Initiatives Committee for recommending this current piece of advocacy to protect the environment and consumers,” Mayor James Leduc said in the release.
The letter was dated June 9, and sent after council approved during their regular meeting on Tuesday, June 6, a motion from the Green Initiatives Advisory Committee.
“Supporting right to repair is a win-win in that it helps reduce waste to protect our planet and to save consumers money,” Ward. 2 Coun. and committee chair Jonathan Scott said in the release.
The motion states that making repairs more accessible would reduce the costs of said repairs and as a result prolong the life of electronic devices, which would reduce electronic waste.
The town’s release notes that farmers are particularly familiar with the issue as farm equipment has become increasingly high-tech over recent decades.
“As the ‘soup and salad bowl of Canada,’ Bradford West Gwillimbury is home to many farmers and growers, so we know firsthand how important an issue this is and how critical proper consultations with the sector will be,” Scott said in the release.
As part of the 2023 budget, the federal government committed to engaging in public consultations this summer on the right to repair and the interoperability of farming equipment, with a stated goal of introducing a framework for home appliances and electronics in 2024.
“Devices and appliances should be easy to repair, spare parts should be readily accessible, and companies should not be able to prevent repairs with complex programming or hard-to-obtain bespoke parts,” the government wrote in their budget.
York-Simcoe Opposition MP Scot Davidson also feels right to repair is an important issue, which he said is why he voted in favour of two federal private members bills dealing with the issue, Bill C-244 'An Act to amend the Copyright Act (diagnosis, maintenance and repair)', and Bill C-294 'An Act to amend the Copyright Act (interoperability)'.
The latter just passed third reading in the House on Wednesday and is now headed for the Senate.
“It’s a big issue, there’s a lot of moving parts to it, and it takes a little bit of time to get it right,” Davidson said.
He has a background in the marina business and sympathizes with people struggling to repair their devices or machinery.
“I’m not in the marina business anymore and if you don’t have the diagnostic software up to date, you can’t wrench on your own things, which is concerning for a lot of people,” Davidson said.
He acknowledged the growing concerns within the agricultural industry specifically and pointed to efforts within Conservative Bill C-294 that he thinks will help.
“It deals with interoperability. If you had a John Deer tractor, the plug in would work on a Case tractor. A lot of the same things that are in C-244 are in C-294 that we just voted on today,” Davidson said.
He agreed there’s still more work to be done and said he hopes to see efforts expedited, but also stressed the need for careful consideration.
“You’ve got to flush everything out of a bill to make sure it’s a robust bill. We owe it to Canadians, we owe it to business to do that,” he said.
