Registrar's Decision 19-09-001

Issues:

• One West Auto Ltd. (“One West”) applied for registration as a motor dealer.
• In reviewing One West’s application, the Authority became concerned about the past conduct of the principals and owners of One West related to their operation of another dealership, Surrey Mitsubishi.
• The Authority notified One West that it would not proceed with reviewing One West’s application until the conclusion of the Registrar’s review of the allegations against Surrey Mitsubishi.
• One West applied for a hearing before the Registrar as One West says the decision to refuse to register One West as a licensed dealer was procedurally unfair since the Authority relied on allegations of past conduct in arriving at the decision.
• A hearing was held on September 11th, 2019.
• One West argued that the term “past conduct” as found in section 5 of the Motor Dealer Act of British Columbia (“MDA”), must be given its ordinary meaning and that meaning is ‘proven’ past conduct.
• The Authority argues that it did not refuse to register One West but was holding its review of the application in abeyance subject to the Registrar’s decision involving Surrey Mitsubishi.
• At the conclusion of the hearing held on September 11th, 2019, the Registrar directed legal counsel to prepare written legal arguments on the interpretation of section 5 of the MDA and specifically on whether past conduct should be interpreted as being “proven past conduct”. That process was completed on October 1st, 2019.