Driving in Québec - Tourists

Licence holders from outside Québec may drive a vehicle on a public road in Québec for up to six consecutive months without holding a Québec driver's licence.

These conditions apply:
your driver's licence must be valid;
any licence restrictions also apply in Québec;
you are allowed to operate only the corresponding class of motor vehicle in Québec.

Beyond 6 months, you must hold an International Driver's Permit, which allows you to operate the corresponding class of motor vehicle in Québec for the length of time the Permit and your driver's licence are valid. You must have both in your possession when driving.

Regardless of the length of your stay, if your driver's licence is neither in English or French, getting an International Driver's Permit is highly recommended. You must apply for a Permit in the country that issued your driver's licence, before leaving.

[url=http://www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/driver_licence/visitors/]Driving in Qu

Op had an issue with bike registration, not licensing.

Bob

Sent from my mobile

I didn't see an outcome to the OP's citation...

Should have been dismissed.



No. Section 7(1)(b) of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (MVSA), allows a visitor to temporarily enter Canada with a motor vehicle without complying with the MVSA if the vehicle is used only by a visitor to Canada or a person passing through Canada en route to another country.

Notes:

You alone may use the vehicle.
Any change in your status, such as receiving permanent residency in Canada, may make your vehicle inadmissible and you will be required to export or destroy it.
You may not sell or gift the vehicle while in Canada.
The vehicle cannot remain in Canada longer than the time limits allowed under your temporary entry.


I've driven my USA registered truck and ridden my motorcycle through Quebec without any issues what-so-ever.

This kind of thing is sickening. Quebec sometimes seems like the most corrupt outpost of North America.

I assume it was local cops and not Highway Troopers (who are federal)

Ed March had a very similar problem...

Ed's March across Canada - Quebec - Canada Moto Guide

I don't know where you come from however in Canada there are no such thing as Highway Troopers. In the province of Ontario you have the Ontaario Provincial Police (OPP) patrolling the Highway ans in Quebec you have the Quebec Provincial Police. QPP. For the rest of the country you have the RCMP and in Alberta the Provincial Sheriffs Office.

Neither the OPP, QPP or Sherriffs are Federal.

Please if you are going to call out corrupt police officers or departments get the story right.

Riq

Riq is correct in his description of policing in Canada, however, to provide greater clarity, the following is a slightly different (hopefully clearer) way of saying the same thing:

We have one federal police force in Canada, that is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP provide policing to communities and rural areas that do not operate their own police force.

Two provinces that I know of (Ontario and Quebec) operate their own provincial police forces. These happen to be the two most populous provinces. In these two provinces, the RCMP does not have a 'public' presence; the provincial police forces provide policing in community and rural areas that do not have their own police forces.

Any community in Canada can set up their own community (in other words, municipal) police force. This is the normal practice in communities with a population of 100,000 or more. Smaller communities usually contract with the RCMP or (in Ontario & Quebec) the provincial police to provide police services, simply because this is less expensive per capita than setting up a municipal police force in a small town.

There are no 'highway specific' police departments in Canada. But, there is a certain amount of specialization within the federal, provincial, and municipal police forces to do traffic work. In other words, within a big city police department like Toronto (about 4 million people live in Toronto), the Toronto Police force has a specialized division that deals exclusively with traffic. But there is no visual distinction (uniforms, cars, etc.) within these specialized units.

Police officers in Canada are very highly paid. It is not uncommon for a police officer in Canada to make CAD $100,000 (USD $70,000) per year in salary. The entry level qualifications are also very high, at the very least, a college degree, more commonly, a 4 year university degree.

I've lived in Canada almost all my life, and it is very rare to hear of corruption amongst police. Occasionally, a scandal erupts if a policeman has been found to plant drugs in a suspect's car, but exhorting a bribe from a citizen during a traffic stop is unheard of.

I'm not saying that the original poster's story is untrue - just that if it did happen the way he reported it, it is a very uncommon occurrence.

Michael

PS: 'Sheriffs' exist in Canada, but only for very specialized purposes - they deliver court documents and things like that. They are not involved in any way with police work.

More accurately, the police officers who stopped the OP had a problem with their comprehension of the rules that govern foreign vehicles in Canada. The OP himself did nothing wrong so far as his licence plate was concerned... but I do see that the OP has added some information in post #3 explaining that he was 'dodging traffic jam' (whatever that means - lane splitting? passing on the right? travelling on the road shoulder?), and my guess is that he was fined for that moving violation, not for anything related to the licence plate.

For a more thorough explanation, see post #8 above, most especially the postscript.

Michael

Just a couple of points of clarification on the information given above so that we are all working off of the same data. The RCMP have the explicit mandate to provide policing in National Parks ( I know the park wardens also perform this function), Indian reserves ( I know we call them First Nations Lands but thats not how the act reads) and all other Federal Properties. Anything beyond that is done under contract.

Also the Province of Alberta does indeed have a Provincial Policing force called the Alberta Sheriff's department who have full policing authority. You can dispute this if you wish however when they pull you over please show them proper deference as they are developing a reputation for over reacting in a violent manner.

Riq

So which countries did the OP invent to make a total of 200 countries visited? The Conch Republic, Panem and Gondor?

That claim seriously casts a shadow on the statement that a full gaggle of poleece demand cash payment for a non-violation.

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Could be Police were pissed off because they had trouble catching up to him since he was riding a bike, lane splitting or riding the shoulder. Probably radioed their buddies ahead that some guy on a bike was making a run for it.
Nothing pisses off cops more than a runner.

One point Michael, in an earlier post you said that NO Canadian police or RCMP collect "on the spot" fines. I beg to differ. Perhaps its changed now but 10 years ago (or so) I had to pay a fine in BC and my buddy, who married a woman in Kelwona, BC, got several Pay on The Spot fines riding his ZX-11. On one trip he paid over $800 USD in speeding fines. My fine was small, but also in BC and was RCMP cop. 62 mph in a 55 mph zone. Absurd.

Basically, police there have nothing to do. So chicken shit traffic stops are how they pay the bills. Canada has no crime, no guns and no gangs to speak of, so anyone going a bit faster than the Absurdly LOW speed limits, gets you nailed.
In BC (and everywhere really) Radar is everywhere. And cops everywhere too.
I've ridden cross Canada twice but mostly been in BC.

Maybe it's just foreigners that must pay on the spot? Dunno? or maybe this practice no longer exists? But it certainly DID 10 or 15 years ago. I paid with a credit card, which the cop was set up to take. Any ideas on this?

Apologies; I thought the highway cops were Federal. This makes me even more nervous because which ever way you slice it the Police seem to do more take than give here in Quebec.

Hi Riq:

My apologies, I was not aware that in Alberta, the duties of a sheriff had expanded to include traffic work. Historically, in Canada, the role of sherriffs has been limited to work supporting the judicial system - unlike in the USA, where 'Sheriff' is often synonymous with 'policeman'. I did find a link to the Government of Alberta website that explains the role of a sheriff in that province in more detail, here it is: Alberta Solicitor General website.

Hi Mollydog:

It is possible, I guess, that police may want a visitor from out of the country to pay a fine on the spot, this because there is no easy way for them to follow up if the visitor does not pay the fine after they return to their home country.

I had a similar encounter in the USA about 6 years ago - a policeman gave me a speeding ticket, and explained that because I was from out of country, I had to pay it 'right then and there'. He was very courteous, accompanied me to an ATM, gave me a proper receipt, etc. So maybe this is normal practice when a visitor to a country gets a ticket.

Michael

Nit-picking. A cop is a cop is a cop as far as most people are concerned. Go further south and there will be 5 lots of police/national parks rangers, army, marines and rentacops to sort out and it isn't relevant anyway since they are the ones with the gun, cuffs and citation forms and you are the one in the wrong.

Whole problem right from the start of this topic was that the reported facts didn't stack up against published official procedures and people were skeptical.

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