As the pandemic unfolded, Ontario dealerships were looking for clearer guidance on how to operate.
COVID-19 has brought with it profound impact on individuals and businesses alike.
Unemployment figures released in Canada as I write this column have risen to double- digit levels and governments at all levels are taking on considerable levels of debt to try and stem the bleeding for small and medium businesses and individuals alike.
Beyond the economic ramifications of COVID are the more important and obvious health and safety issues that have given rise to the many economic challenges we are all facing as a result of a virus that we don’t fully understand, nor know how it is transmitted from one person to the next.
These concerns, with life or death consequences have led to the shut down of our economy — more or less. Only essential businesses have been allowed to remain open. Even though many of these restrictions have been lifted, it remains unclear as to whether or not this easing up will be the temporary calm before the storm of a second wave of COVID cases.
One thing that is clear, however, is that COVID is not going away and as a society we are going to have to figure out how to live and work with COVID until a vaccine can be developed and even then certain aspects of our lives are unlikely to ever to back to the way that things were pre-COVID.
It goes without saying that COVID has been a very dramatic, negative exogenous factor impacting business operations unlike anything we have ever seen before.
It is in such times of crisis however, that true leaders and examples of true leadership emerge.
In the automotive industry, Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA) has emerged as just such a leader — actively working with governments to shore up and stabilize the businesses of his members while also marshalling them with military precision to change up their production facilities to address the larger need at hand — ventilators, PPE, and other equipment and devices crucial to battling the Oppressor that is COVID-19.
I think Mr. Volpe will always be remembered for this critical leadership role he created for himself in this time of crisis. Mr. Volpe is a charismatic leader with a membership that is fully supportive of the commitment to the larger vision of things — meaning that in order to eventually get his members back to work, we have to get back to a society that works.
Ontario’s Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC) — like many of us, got caught unprepared by COVID and was also whip-sawed by the vagaries of the changing restrictions as the government moved from less stringent lockdown measures to more stringent lockdown measures — which were also not necessarily as cut and dried as they could have been.
This put OMVIC in a precarious position between Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer, the Treasurer’s Office and their own constituents and stakeholders — Ontario’s motor vehicle dealers.
I think it is fair to say, that many of those constituents and stakeholders regulated by OMVIC were left confused and scratching their collective heads by OMVIC’s actions or lack thereof, around what they were allowed to do with respect to the onslaught of COVID-19.
Was this OMVIC’s fault? No.
OMVIC was simply caught in the middle of an unprecedented situation. Hopefully the confusion and lack of clarity around direction to their constituents around COVID will prepare OMVIC and other Delegated Administrative Authorities (DAAs) for future unprecedented situations, of which there are likely to be more — not less of.
Let’s recall that OMVIC essentially took over the role of the Motor Vehicle Registrar within the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations (the predecessor to the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services) in 1996 and became responsible for the registration, business practices and compliance enforcement of all of the motor vehicle dealers and motor vehicle sales people within the province.
Thus, essentially anything to do with motor vehicle dealers and their salespeople fell under the ambit of OMVIC acting as an agent of the government. This relationship is spelled out in an Administrative Agreement between the Government (Ministry of Government and Consumer Services ) and OMVIC.
The reason for providing the background on the relationship between government and OMVIC is to underscore the fact that OMVIC does have the legitimate responsibility to lead and manage dealerships and their sales staffs within the province.
When a pandemic healthcare crisis hits, however, for which there is no “rule book” on the relationship between OMVIC and the government, it left many thinking: “Why is OMVIC deferring to government with respect to whether dealerships should be open or closed, or under what circumstances they should be open or closed when the government has already given them that power under the Safety and Consumer Statutes Administration Act of 1996 bolstered by previously noted Administrative Agreement between OMVIC and the Ministry?”
This deferential stance back to the Ontario government set up a bit of a finger-pointing exercise between the government and OMVIC as to which entity ultimately had the power, authority and discretion to make decisions around how or if business at motor vehicle dealers was going to be conducting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government prepared and updated the “List of Essential Workplaces,” as the virus evolved, and even when the most stringent provisions were in place, phoning the 1-888 hotline number to determine whether businesses could be open or must close did not elicit a straight and unequivocal response from the CSR on the other end of the phone with respect to the showroom operations of dealerships.
So while the government itself was not giving a straight answer it appears that OMVIC decided to manage the situation by erring on the side of caution, simply shutting everything down with the exception of remote vehicles sales — which had its own inherent challenges.
This management “ban” on vehicle sales activity in dealerships cost a number of people their jobs, significant financial stress to dealer principals and inconvenience and frustration to vehicle manufacturers and consumers alike.
Let’s hope that we all learn from this situation and don’t let ourselves ever again become stymied by unclear governance in challenging times.
