Motorcycle owners in Quebec are up in arms over rising registration costs fueled by increased contributions to the province’s insurance scheme.
Bikers protested the increase in annual registration fees outside the National Assembly in Quebec City over the weekend. According to a CBC News report, registration fees are expected to keep climbing until 2021 due to Quebec’s auto insurance board, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Quebec (SAAQ), increasing contribution fees across all types of motorcycles.
Read more: High rates bring biker protests
Registration fees are determined by engine size, with the current fee for the smallest engine costing $277.17.
“Last year, my bike cost me $450, now it’s $660,” Jean-Pierre Fréchette, executive director of the Fédération motocycliste du Quebec, told CBC News. Fréchette participated in the weekend’s protest, which was organized by the Coalition des Motocyclistes du Quebec. The coalition planned the protest after the group’s petition to dial back registration fees, signed by some 75,000 people last year, fell on deaf ears.
CBC News reported that the coalition is now planning to ask provincial officials and Transport Minister François Bonnardel for a meeting to discuss their demands.
The weekend’s demonstration followed similar protests last month, when bikers in Trois-Rivières rallied against rising insurance costs for their vehicles.
