Ottawa resident Ken Hutchinson had an encounter with Quebec officers from the Gatineau Municipal Police last month where he was allegedly told to “get the fuck out of here” and not to come back to Quebec.
We’ll let Ken tell it in his own words but if true, it depicts a disturbing trend of harsh treatment towards owners of modified vehicles by law enforcement. It should be possible to enforce the law with a standard of politeness and respect at all times but it seems it’s not always the case.
I’d like to start by saying that I am a licensed automotive service technician, and qualified Grand Master GM tech as well in Ontario. I drive a 2000 VW Jetta 1.8t. It’s on airlift suspension. On Saturday June 13 at around 10pm a few friends and I decided to go out for a cruise, one of them driving a TDI mk4 and the other was driving a 1986 Porsche 930 Turbo. We decided to cross from Ottawa over to the Quebec side to go to the Gatineau Park and drive up to the Champlain lookout which is a very common place for people to cruise in the Outaouais region.
We were about 3 minutes into the park (just north of Rue Gamelin) when we came across a police roadblock being run by Gatineau municipal police (which seems odd in a national park that’s usually patrolled by RCMP). They immediately asked us to exit our vehicles and told us that our vehicles were illegal. They also refused to speak to us in English at first and they were extremely rude to us even though we were nothing but cooperative.
I was told that my tires were stretched and my exhaust was « too loud » even though they did not have a decibel meter to measure the volume. I run 215/40/18 all around with 9″ wheels in the rear and 8″ front so my stretch is extremely minimal. Also my exhaust is 100% legal it still has a cat, resonator, and muffler. My vehicle is 100% safe and legal in Ontario and would pass an inspection tomorrow if it needed to. The police ended up letting me go after finding out that I was a licensed mechanic, they seemed to decide that it wasn’t in their best interest to argue with me. However they said they are mailing out tickets to my friend with the MK4 for illegal exhaust. They told us to « get the fuck out of here and we don’t want to see you around here anymore » in exact words.
What really bothers me about this is the fact that here in Ottawa vehicles with Quebec plates come over all the time and they aren’t forced to comply with our laws. They drive on studded tires in Ontario. They don’t have to pass Ontario emissions. They don’t have front license plates yet still drive in Ontario. The police here leave them alone and don’t bother them. I feel its police harassment to be bothering us even though our vehicles comply 100% with the laws in the province which they are registered in. I hope that by sharing this experience we can raise some awareness to this problem. The province of Quebec is only hurting them. My friends and I frequently go spend lots of money in Quebec and in particular Montreal. I used to go there every week or 2, but because of this harassment that’s going on I haven’t been yet this summer.
