Law and Government

by

Crossing Borders Within Canada

A friend of mine asked me last night what makes me feel that Canada discourages any sort of serious and long term travel within its borders, something I mentioned in my previous entry. I thought I should highlight the three roadblocks I’ve encountered so far, starting with the least severe. The more I look at this list, though, the more I have to wonder if the issue isn’t Quebec rather than Canada. This is another reason I want to try life in other provinces.

1) Vehicle Insurance

This is not an issue I expected to encounter, but if I’m out of the province for more than 6 months, then getting insurance coverage for my vehicles is an issue. I was only able to get coverage by promising that I would not spend more than a couple of weeks of the upcoming year outside of Canada and that I would return to Quebec for six months starting next fall, else my coverage will not be renewed. Well, there’s another reason for setting up residence elsewhere.

2) Health Coverage

Same sort of deal as with vehicle insurance. The RAMQ (Quebec health insurance board) allows one exemption to the ‘no more than six months out of the province’ rule every seven years. So, next fall I need to return to Quebec for six months or lose my health care coverage, and then I have to stay in in the province for six months per year for six years.

3) Voting

I sure hope that things have changed since the last time I was out of Quebec when there was a provincial election. When the 2001 elections came up, I enquired about voting by proxy from the small town in Ontario where I was going to school and was told I absolutely had to travel back to my riding in Quebec in order to vote. So, with my riding being a twelve hour bus ride away, this wasn’t feasible and I had to give up my right to vote. Never mind that I was paying income tax in Quebec and still considered a resident of the province.

by

Proverbial Stone

Whew, I didn’t intend to get insurance issues sorted out today, but I did! I’m thrilled with the coverage and price I got for a ‘Globe Trotter Plus Nomad’ (love that!) policy… that includes road side assistance for the RV. One less thing to research. *Rae heaves a huge sigh of relief*

I still need to check if my plans will affect my car policy (which I’ll need to maintain with my current insurer), so I could still be in for surprises, insurance-wise, but I think the worst is over.

The fact that I will be out of Quebec for a year was a huge problem and I had to swear up and down and promise my firstborn child that I would not go to the United States for more than a couple of weeks at a time, and for no more than 6 months total, as well as pay a premium. I can’t figure out why my country is so difficult about people crossing its provincial borders for more than 6 months. I know it has something to do with the health care regimes and provincial income tax, but all of that comes out in the wash if you ask me. *rolls eyes*

Okay, so now I’m waiting for the financing to be settled. This is stressing me out, probably more than it should. It’s just that plans B through Z aren’t nearly as advantageous as plan A and could really cramp my style.

by

Managing Mail When On the Road

I went to pick up my repaired glasses this afternoon (YAAAAAY!!!) and realised that there’s a UPS store in the same building. So, I killed the proverbial two birds and took care of my mail needs for the next year! Wow, this is really starting to feel official!

Before I researched the issue, I figured that mail was going to be a hassle when on the road. I couldn’t just get a box at the post office because the government requires a street address for things like tax documents and license renewals. Same thing for package deliveries, a PO box isn’t good enough. So, the obvious choice at the time was to ask someone I know if I could use their address and to forward my mail to me. I really didn’t like the idea of imposing on someone like that, plus it took away some of my independence and autonomy.

After doing research, I discovered that the UPS store offers a fantastic service: you can rent a mailbox for a length of time, but also have a civic number (ie. the store address with a unit number being your box number). Moreover, they can hold packages and you can contact the store periodically and they will take whatever is in your box, package it up, and send it off to you wherever you are. According to the brochure, the cost for this service for a ‘small’ box for 12 months is only 130$, plus tax, plus shipping fees. My 130$ bought me the service from today until November 30, 2009! I meant for the service to start on September 1st, but didn’t realise that it starts from the moment you pay. So the clerk confessed that most of his boxes are empty and it doesn’t matter if mine isn’t available for rent for two months before I start to get mail in it. Then, my 130$ gives me 15 mos of service instead of 12. A bargain.

I don’t get that much mail and plan to tell my various ‘official’ mailers, like the government and utilities, that I’d prefer e-correspondence, so I doubt I’ll actually have much mail for the UPS store to worry about, but, at least, I have a safe place to send my mail to, a street address, and my independence.

by

The Fun of Importing

I just got off the phone with the SAAQ (Quebec ‘DMV’). In order to bring the motorhome into Quebec, I need to have another safety inspection done. They will, of course, find things wrong with the vehicle even though Ontario didn’t, because this is Quebec and Quebec believes in nickel and dimeing its over taxed citizenry.

Once I meet the safety requirements, I can get a licence plate that will officially put the vehicle in my name. In order to do so, I need to pay the QST (Quebec sales tax). If I lived in Ontario, I could just give the guy a cheque and that would be that. But because I’m in another province, I need to pay 7.5% more than our agreed upon sales price.

Once I’ve ponied up that money (which will be at least a grand), I can then pay for the licence plate. The amount I was quoted was suspiciously low (482$ for a year, 326$ due now till February). If I only have to pay 500$ a year for plates for this thing, you will need to scrape me off the floor.

It’s too late now to make more calls, but tomorrow I will be calling the safety check places to find out how much that will cost, then an insurance company.

That done, I will investigate a ‘proper’ RV finance loan. I don’t technically need one, but I’d rather keep my other funds if I can.