Another day, another drastic move by the Quebec Government.

There are 33,000 kilometres of trails in La Belle Province, and people who live alongside these trails have been complaining for quite some time about the excessive noise produced by the snowmobiles and ATVs that blast by.

To solve this problem, the Quebec Government will try to pass a new law that would ban the use of snowmobiles and other recreational vehicles between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am. On weekends, the ban would be effective from 11 pm.

Doggie-do will hit the fan.

Photo: Philippe Champoux/Moto123.com

While this is excellent news for citizens who live beside the trails, it is quite a shock for snowmobile owners, especially in the Province that pioneered this type of vehicle.

Rumour has it that each municipality could, however, choose not to abide to the law. That basically means if a town asked their citizens to vote on whether they would apply the law or not, it could lead to some messy discussions between those who want to ride at night and those who live who are sick of the noise.

According to Charles Vanasse, Communications Manager for the FCMQ (Fédération des Clubs de Motoneigistes du Québec) which regroups 90,000 members and 209 snowmobile clubs across the province, the Federation isn’t against banning the use of the vehicles during the night, but a wall-to-wall ban is seen as excessive. A good portion of the trails is nowhere near a house. The FCMQ knew since last March that the Government was working on a project, but was surprised to find out that the measures were this severe.

The FCMQ will meet with Minister for Transport Norman MacMillan next week in order to discuss a less-extremist approach to solving the noise problem. Many regions rely on snowmobile activities for tourism purposes, and this law could hurt them economically.