Stop the Banning Of Leaded Fuels In Competition Racing In Canada

Dear Member of Parliament,

I would like to voice my concern on this proposed law of banning leaded fuel in competition vehicles. The banning of leaded race fuel will impact more than just a few racetracks near the American border. These race tracks desperately need the revenue generated from national and professional events. The events bring to our racetracks professional racers from the US and Canada.

Conversion to alternative fuels such as alcohol or methanol are an indeed an option for the local racer.
But it is not a solution. The negative economic impact of losing the professional racers and events will most surely close the remaining tracks in Canada.

It will also impact the local street racing scene. We have all, over the years, been involved in efforts to get the racers off the streets and onto tracks. The only way to do this successfully is a) have tracks available to race on and b) to have 'heroes' that advocate racing on tracks instead of on the streets. The only times that our kids get to see proper racing etiquette and safety measures, is when our race tracks hold local and professional events. Banning the 1.5\% of leaded fuel that is used by competition racing in Canada for one thing will lead to more street racing and escalate to more deaths, a much more aggressive street racing scene and will lead to an underground economy that will directly affect many local automotive/snowmobile/motorcycle suppliers.

In the early 90's, the Conservative Government in Quebec managed to ruin a healthy racing facility at Sanair raceway near Montreal. When the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) pulled their sponsorship and participants from that one National Event that Canada had, the economical spill off amounted to $33 million dollars. That was ONE event.

Considering the minimal amount of leaded fuel (1.5\%), that is consumed by competition sports in Canada it really does not make any sense that this proposal would become law. Furthermore the other 98.5\% used by the aviation industry has been granted a permanent exemption.

I definitely understand the need for cleaning up the environment. However, there has been no solid evidence that the lead content from race fuel used at our tracks has caused negative health issues to any race fans / racers. This has been noted in the above article by the World Health Organization that lead content was within guidelines. Any other concerns are speculation only. Please also note that states such as California, who have some of the strictest regulations for clean air have no future plans to restrict leaded race fuel.

For these reasons I ask that the exemption for leaded fuel be granted to competition vehicles as well.
Please do not allow this to be law because of speculation.
Our sport depends on it!