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Archive for January, 2010

When Satan’s Choice drew a line

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Former president of outlaw gang chronicles early days when bikers were bad, not villainous

BOLTON–”You don’t look like a bad-guy biker.”

In certain circles, saying that could get you punched out.

Don Norris smiles. “Thank you,” he says.

With his white hair, gentle demeanour and blue, knitted slippers, he doesn’t look like a one-percenter.

Except for the “Department of Homeland Security” T-shirt, which shows a bunch of long-haired motorcyclists.

And the tattoo: a grinning devil’s head and the name Satan’s Choice.

Norris was an outlaw, all right. President of the Choice back in the early ’60s.

Who else in this comfortable sub-division off Hwy. 50 could sit in his living room and jog his memory with, “That would be the night the Vagabonds beat the s - - - outta me?”

Satan’s Choice was front and centre in the famous “patch-over” of 2000-01 when members of several Ontario clubs became Hells Angels. Norris was long gone by then. But he’s still close to a number of guys who live the outlaw life.

“Friends are friends,” he says. “They’re good people.”

If he more resembles a retired scoutmaster, well, he’s been that, too. And a karate instructor. He may be 67 but you wouldn’t want to cross him even now.

“I’m not a tough guy any more,” he says. “I’ve had heart problems and diabetes. I would avoid a fight. But, still, some things are ingrained.”

He most wants to be thought of as a writer, author of the self-published memoir Riding With Attitude.

You can order it from him (email donnorris@rogers.com) for $22.50 plus $2.50 postage, or from Chapters/Indigo. If you see Norris at a rally, 20 bucks and it’s yours. This weekend, he’ll be selling copies at his own booth at the motorcycle Supershow at the International Centre.

Norris is retired from the trucking industry and lives with his wife, Carolyn, and a cat named Riggs, after the Mel Gibson character in Lethal Weapon.

He has four children, who are “fascinated by the biker stuff,” and six grandchildren. He no longer carries a “gator-skinner” knife with a 30-centimetre blade, or rides with three sticks of dynamite wrapped up in his bedroll – “another of my quirks.”

It was through one of his son’s scouting activities that he became a troop leader. “I always get a kick out of the people who say, `I can’t believe you were in Satan’s Choice,’ ” says Carolyn. “Or, `I can’t believe you were a scoutmaster.’ ”

Riding With Attitude is sometimes lurid. Norris writes of losing his virginity “with Lulu in the Golden Hawks’ clubhouse … while the guys sat around drinking and watching.”

He opens a window into a time when outlaw bikers were hellraisers who hadn’t yet been tarred with the “organized crime” brush. That’s a label that irks him mightily.

As a teenager in Scarborough, Norris earned 35 cents an hour “as a carhop at a drive-in restaurant – no roller skates. I’d saved 100 bucks and I knew some fellers who belonged to the Saddle Tramps club. Through them, I bought a ‘52 Triumph.”

(Biker clubs then weren’t mandating that their members ride Harleys.)

“I hooked up with Satan’s Choice and a year later I became president. That would be 1959 or ‘60. There was only one chapter back then, about 45 members. We hung out at Aida’s restaurant at Kingston Rd. and St. Clair Ave. There were no initiation rituals. You just needed a motorcycle and $3 for the patch.”

What was it like being in Satan’s Choice?

“Party, party, party,” Norris recalls with a grin. “And some ongoing rivalry with other clubs. The Black Diamond Riders tended to try to wipe out other clubs. I was beaten up a few times.”

And beat up people himself?

“Of course. It was all challenges. You can’t reject a challenge.

“We were treated with respect by people, given a wide berth wherever we went. They saw your patch and they stepped aside.”

The Choice disbanded temporarily in 1963 but Norris joined the Swamphawks and Golden Hawk Riders. “And I was always very friendly with the Para-Dice Riders.”

He spent most weekends at Bernie Guindon’s house. It was Guindon, co-founder of the Phantom Riders, who in 1965 masterminded an amalgamation of his club, the Canadian Lancers, the Throttle Twisters and the Wild Ones.

Satan’s Choice was reborn.

The four club presidents visited Norris to see what he thought of the idea.

“I could hardly contain my enthusiasm,” he writes. “I loaned them my old crest as a sample and told them where they could be made. For aiding in the new beginning, I was presented with a new set of colours.”

But Norris was a family man by then and never went back to the Choice.

“Do I miss it?” he says. “Not really. I’m enjoying saner times. Would I live in that culture again? Yes, absolutely.”

He owns a 1997 Honda Gold Wing that he’s ridden all over the continent.

“Most of my neighbours have no idea about any of the biker stuff,” he says. “They know I ride. Maybe that’s what keeps them away!”

His wife had no idea either when they met “or I wouldn’t have touched him with a 10-foot pole!”

Norris looks at her in mock disbelief. “I never could talk her into getting a `Property of Satan’s Choice’ tattoo.”

He backs his Gold Wing out into the rain for pictures.

“Where do you want me?” he asks. “By this tree?”

Sure. Unless you’d like to ride around the block and look as if you’re terrorizing the neighbourhood.

His wife laughs. “He’s the quietest guy on the street.”

In certain circles, saying that could get you punched out.

Norris smiles. “Thank you,” he says.

Bill Taylor, Special to the TORONTO STAR, Jan 09, 2010

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Drivers can appeal unpaid Hwy. 407 bills

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Not many people do that, though, perhaps because it’s hard to find out how arbitration process works

Every driver who’s been denied a licence plate renewal over an unpaid 407 ETR bill may appeal to an independent arbitrator, but it appears to be a seldom-used process.

We’d like to be more definitive, but since we began reporting on the 407’s heavy-handed collection tactics and outrageous interest charges of 26.82 per cent, the toll road has refused to answer our queries and will not even acknowledge our emails.

The 407’s thuggish behaviour can be attributed to its authority to compel the transportation ministry to deny drivers a plate renewal over an unpaid bill – a power enjoyed by no other private business in Canada – and legislation that puts the onus on drivers to prove they don’t owe the money.

It could be why the 407 routinely refuses requests from drivers who ask for photographic proof to back up its invoice.

In notes demanding corrections to alleged errors in a Fixer story, the 407’s media relations whiz raised independent arbitration as an avenue of appeal for people denied a plate renewal.

We replied by asking questions about independent arbitration, including how many people appealed a plate denial in each year back to 2006, and how many of those appeals resulted in a reversal of the plate denial.

We asked those questions in mid-December, but have yet to hear a peep from the 407. That made us wonder if independent arbitration of plate denials is a process used more rarely than the 407 would have us believe. So we asked readers who have been denied a plate to let us know if they appealed the decision to an independent arbitrator.

We have received upwards of 700 emails and calls from readers about various billing-related problems since we began reporting on it, but not one has said they’d used independent arbitration.

That furthered our suspicion that it’s an obscure process.

It’s hard to find a mention of independent arbitration on the 407’s website. At the bottom of the “products and services” category, we found a “dispute resolution” subheading. It outlines how drivers can fight a bill with which they disagree.

Just above is another heading, “collections,” which includes plate denial information. Under “opportunity to dispute,” it says a driver who did not succeed in disputing a bill “has the right to appeal to 407 ETR’s decision to an independent dispute arbitrator … appointed by the Ontario Government.”

We asked transportation ministry spokesman Bob Nichols for help. Nichols sent us web links to legislation that outlines the rights and responsibilities of drivers and the 407, as well as a form to be filled out by drivers who lost their dispute about plate denial but hoped to appeal to an independent arbitrator.

The form includes an address for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario, on Eglinton Ave. E. We spoke to its executive director, Mary Anne Harnick, who explained that “we’re just a clearing house.” She said 407 appeal requests go on to Dispute Resolution Services, operated by Cliff Hendler.

Hendler said he couldn’t talk to us about the process without permission from the 407.

So, we are no closer to knowing how often drivers denied a plate by the 407 successfully used arbitration. We can only conclude the 407 wants to keep it that way.

What’s broken in your neighbourhood? To email us, go to www.thestar.com/thefixer and click on the “Submit a problem” link. Or call us at 416-869-4823.

Article reprinted from the Toronto Star Jan,16,2010

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GM still top automaker in Canada despite slide

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Struggling car company edges past Toyota despite 41% plunge in 2009 output

General Motors of Canada has narrowly retained its position as the country’s biggest automaker despite a huge drop in production last year.

GM, which has led the industry in Canada for the past several decades, disclosed Thursday that 2009 output plunged by a stunning 41 per cent, or more than 240,000 cars and trucks, to 342,147 vehicles compared with the previous year.

After falling behind in the first half of the year, the struggling automaker edged past Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, whose output last year climbed 11 per cent, or about 32,000 autos, to a record 319,548 vehicles.

GM’s slide contributed significantly to a big overall plunge in industry production in Canada last year. Output tumbled 27.8 per cent to 1,473,947 vehicles compared with 2008.

The decline represents the equivalent of the annual output of more than two assembly plants.

It also marks the lowest level of Canadian auto production, a key economic generator, since 1983 when the country was pulling out of a recession.

GM had fallen behind Toyota at the halfway point of the year because of sliding truck and car production. The company’s truck plant in Oshawa closed in May and it was overhauling a car complex.

But production picked up significantly during the second half at its CAMI operation in Ingersoll because of the popularity of the sport utility vehicles that are assembled at the plant.

Toyota Motor president Ray Tanguay said earlier this week that his company expects production at its Cambridge and Woodstock assembly plants to top 400,000 vehicles this year.

A second shift assembling RAV4 sport utility vehicles in Woodstock will likely account for most of the gain.

However, GM, which received $10.8 billion in government aid last year to stay alive, will also get additional output from a third shift at the Ingersoll plant.

Industry watcher Dennis DesRosiers said it is difficult to predict who will emerge as the top auto producer this year because of the narrow difference between the two auto giants.

“It’s a toss-up,” he said. “There are positives for both companies. No one knows right now how the market will respond to some of the products.”

While Toyota posted a production gain, Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Canada and Honda Canada joined GM in reporting declines last year.

Chrysler’s output tumbled 34 per cent to 314,504 vehicles in Windsor and Brampton. Honda’s production slid 32 per cent to 259,796 in Alliston and Ford’s volume dropped 22 per cent to 237,952 vehicles in Oakville and St. Thomas.

Article reprinted from the Business section of The Toronto Star Jan,15,2010

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Wilden rides Grand Am wave

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Oakville title-holder seems to be able to race and win in just about any kind of car

For the second consecutive year, the Grand Am KONI Challenge series (now called the Continental Tire challenge) won’t have its defending champion competing on a regular basis.

Last year, the 2008 champion, Scott Maxwell of Toronto, wasn’t in the series. And for 2010, the prospects of a full-time ride for title-holder Kenny Wilden of Oakville look bleak. Although he’s in Florida for a Grand Am practice session this weekend at Daytona, the race at the end of the month is a one-off.

“But that’s kind of how my career has gone,” Wilden said “I don’t think I’ve ever had a solid two-year deal in all the years I’ve been racing.”

Unlike many other drivers who’ve quietly disappeared from the scene, Wilden has been able to stay active in the upper echelons of the sport (he started racing in 1987 when he was in his early 20s) because of an uncanny ability to race and win in literally any kind of car – from showroom stock cars to balls-to-the-wall Trans-Am sedans to light-and-nimble Formula Atlantics.

Which is why he’s set his sights this year on as many Grand Am races as he can, as well as at least three races in the NASCAR Nationwide stock car series.

“I can pretty much drive anything fast,” he said.

Wilden’s living and career have revolved around automobiles and driving since the mid-1980s.

“I went out to Expo ‘86 in Vancouver and got work as a valet parking jockey,” he said. “It’s funny, I parked cars on the property that eventually became the track for the Molson Indy Vancouver and where I raced in Formula Atlantic. At the time, I had no idea I would be going racing.

“When I returned to Toronto, I started working in sales with Young Drivers of Canada. I got my instructor’s licence, started teaching and then got enough money together to buy a franchise. I love teaching defensive driving and was with Young Drivers until two years ago, when I opened Drivewise Mississauga.”

During the first Molson Indy Toronto in ‘86, Wilden was impressed by Canadian racing legend Richard Spenard. “He was driving in the Player’s-GM Series and he told an interviewer about his school (the long-gone Spenard-David Racing School at Shannonville Motorsport Park).

“Three months later, I was in a Camaro and Richard and Ron Fellows were my instructors. It turned out that they were my motivation. I figured if they could drive racing cars, then so could I. I always wanted to beat those two; they were my benchmark.”

Wilden entered the old Honda-Michelin Challenge Series and won rookie of the year. He won the top rookie award when he moved up to the Player’s-GM series, too.

“My focus was starting to be on racing,” he said. “But I didn’t have the money to keep going. I went to Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant for the Player’s-GM East-West Shootout (the top six from each region would race) and I was the only car without sponsorship.

“Some guys from Proctor & Gamble came over to me. They weren’t going to have a car in the race and they said they’d love to have Tide on my car. I finished second and that started a relationship with P&G that enabled me to continue.”

Wilden won the Player’s-GM title in ‘92 and broke all of Spenard’s records in the process – most wins, fastest laps and so on. He tested a Trans-Am car for Chevrolet that year (”which gave me a glimpse of what was possible”) and then entered six Atlantic races in 1993, acquitting himself well.

(It was in ‘92, incidentally, that Wilden wrote what he calls his “final exam” as a race driver. “It was at that year’s Molson Indy, in the Player’s-GM race. There was a pileup at the end of the straight – turn 3 – and Spenard got through. I got held up before I could set out after him. But near the end of the race, I’d caught him. I passed him on the outside of turn 1 and I won the race. He was The Man in that series. It was then that I knew I could really be a race driver.”)

The next season, 1994, Wilden suffered one of two serious setbacks that stalled his climb to the top of the racing ladder. At the very last second, his Proctor & Gamble sponsorship was taken from him and handed to another Canadian driver who’d convinced the corporation that he could be just as successful for half the money. He wasn’t – but the damage had been done and Wilden was out.

The late Greg Wilkins was a corporate giant and friend (and a pretty good race driver in his own right) and arranged sponsorship for Wilden to run in the Motorola Cup series for the next three years, in which he won one championship and came close to winning the others.

Then, with strong support from Wilkins’ Trizek Hahn corporation and Slick 50 additives, he went back into the open-wheel Atlantics.

After finishing second in the Atlantic series points race in 1999, Wilden was right on the verge of taking the next step: a ride in the 2000 CART series. He and his wife, Marie, had a successful hospitality business (they handled everything – travel arrangements, hotels, transportation, entertainment – for corporate guests of CART sponsors) and he had strong personal backing from Trizek Hahn and Newcourt Financial Ltd. (which had replaced Slick 50 in 1998 when that company was sold).

“I’d talked to Bobby Rahal about running with his team, the Swift factory team and to Carl Wells,” Wilden recalled. “It was just a matter of deciding where to put the money. But then, within two weeks, both corporations were sold and, just like that, my career was over.”

To say it was a shock would be an understatement.

“I understand the business end of things. But that was a tough one. There were a couple of guys going up to CART – Alex Tagliani, for one – who I knew I could beat. Things like that are pretty hard to take.”

Although he said his career “was over,” that hasn’t been the case. He’s done Trans-Am since (he drove Jim Derhagg’s car at Laguna Seca in 2001 and won the race, beating series superstars Paul Gentilozzi and Boris Said in the process) and then there was that KONI championship last season.

“I’ve branched out, too,” Wilden said. “I’ve done some driver coaching (Mark Wilkins, Jonathan Macri) and then rides just seem to come along.

“Yes, I didn’t go to CART, I didn’t go to the top, but I do get paid to drive racing cars, so I’m not complaining. Some years, you just have to scrounge a little more.”

Looks like this might be one of those years.

nmcdonald@thestar.ca Norris McDonald blogs on motorsport at wheels.ca

Norris McDonald, Motorsport Writer, TORONTO STAR, Jan 09, 2010

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New laws change the game for dealers, consumers

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Regulations hail a new era of accountability that will better serve and protect everyone

From the outside, new-car dealerships may not appear any different than they did a week ago (maybe more snow on the roofs). But inside those dealerships, new government regulations have changed the way our stores conduct business.

These new laws are enshrined in the new Motor Vehicle Dealers Act 2002, which became law on Jan. 1. I first wrote about these new regulations in November, but I’d like to revisit the subject for the benefit of consumers and dealers.

The new regulations include detailed guidelines for dealers over contracts, disclosures, warranties and business practices. The issue of “disclosure” should be of particular importance to dealerships, salespeople and consumers.

Why did the act need to be updated? We live in a world where transparency and accountability have become an integral part of how companies, associations and organizations operate.

One of the key areas in the new regulations concerns disclosure on sales and leasing contracts – especially regarding pre-owned vehicles. For dealerships, this boils down to making sure customers are properly informed about the true condition of a vehicle before they make a purchase.

For instance, all sales contracts must now state the odometer reading, specify whether a vehicle was branded “salvaged” or “rebuilt” under government legislation, or whether a vehicle was used as a police cruiser, emergency vehicle, limousine, taxi or daily rental.

If a registered dealer sells a vehicle that is designated “branded,” and the salesperson or dealer fails to disclose that status to the customer, the customer could trigger a rescission remedy that neither the dealer nor the salesperson can stop.

In other circumstances, the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council registrar may exercise some discretion about enforcing the new regulations..

All new-vehicle sales and lease contracts must also state that the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan, or CAMVAP, is available to help settle disputes concerning alleged manufacturer defects or implementation of the manufacturer’s warranty.

CAMVAP is a not-for-profit corporation that acts as a neutral third party in settling disputes between consumers and new-car manufacturers.

Conversely, the new contracts must stipulate if a certain manufacturer is not a participant in the CAMVAP program, and that the dispute resolution process is not available for customers who buy from that manufacturer.

Under the former guidelines, if key information wasn’t disclosed, then the dealership was responsible for addressing any wrongdoing.

But with the new Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, salespeople are now personally responsible for disclosing all relevant information about pre-owned vehicles. That shift in accountability from dealership (exclusively) to both salesperson and dealership is important and needs to be understood by all sales staff.

Another important part of the new regulations is the Motor Vehicle Dealers Compensation Fund, which now provides up to $45,000 (up from $15,000) if a customer dealing with a registered car dealer suffers a loss, such as an unpaid lien on a vehicle purchased, a non-submitted third-party warranty or a deposit on an undelivered motor vehicle.

Most new-car dealerships in Ontario have been preparing for the new regulations. The Toronto Automobile Dealers Association, the Ontario Automobile Dealer Association and the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council have been actively working with dealerships to ensure they are compliant with the new regulations.

The new regulations usher in a new era of accountability and compliance for registered dealerships in Ontario. Consumers and dealers will be better served and protected with these regulations in place.

For more information about the new regulations, the industry council hosts a number of audio/video summaries on its website (www.omvic.on.ca), including clips about contracts, disclosure, registration and warranties.

This column represents the views of

TADA. Email president@tada.ca or visit tada.ca.

Ron Loveys, TADA President, TORONTO STAR, Jan 09, 2010

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Posted in Auto dealers, new law Ontario, Ontario, car dealers new laws | No Comments »