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Toronto, May 29, 2002 - The
Ontario Motor Industry Vehicle
Council has a new president and
chair. Peter Eatson succeeds
Paul Burroughs who is retiring
after a two-year term.OMVIC, the
motor vehicle dealer industry's
self-management body,
administers Ontario's Motor
Vehicle Dealers Act on behalf of
the Minister of Consumer and
Business Services, Tim Hudak.
Its mandate is to protect the
rights of consumers, enhance the
professionalism of the industry
and to ensure fair, honest and
open competition for registered
motor vehicle dealers.
“For many associations, the
chair is just a figurehead,”
says Carl Compton, executive
director of OMVIC. “Anyone who
knows Paul Burroughs will know
that he could never be just a
figurehead. For Paul, OMVIC’s
role of promoting dealer
professionalism and protecting
consumers is more than just
words on paper – it is a
personal crusade. We will miss
his counsel, his enthusiasm and
his guidance.”
Paul Burroughs has worked in the
retail automotive industry since
1971 and has been president of
City Chev Olds in Hamilton,
Ontario since 1992. He has been
a member of the OMVIC board
since May 1999 and served for
two years as the council’s chair
and president.
Burroughs was uncompromising in
his pursuit of new initiatives
to make dealers more
professional and increase
consumer confidence in the
industry, says Compton. OMVIC
is, for example, currently
embarking on a unique program in
which every motor vehicle dealer
in the province will be
inspected – a project that will
be the largest undertaking of
its type in the thirty-year
history of the Motor Vehicle
Dealers Act.
“This is something that Paul
championed and an example of the
professionalism that he expects
to see in the industry,”
concludes Compton.
Peter Eatson, president of
Peterborough Volkswagen-Audi,
succeeds Burroughs. A forty-year
veteran of the automotive
industry, Eatson is well known
for his careful, thoughtful
insights and his strong support
of OMVIC’s priorities on dealer
professionalism and consumer
protection.
Mr. Eatson is the past president
of the Canadian Automobile
Association and past president
of the Ontario Automobile Dealer
Association. He is also past
chairman of the Volkswagen
National Dealer Council. An
active member of the
Peterborough community, he is a
past trustee of St. Joseph’s
Hospital and currently
vice-president of the Rotary
Club of Peterborough.
OMVIC also named Ken Peterson of
Ken Peterson Sales and Leasing
in Thunder Bay as its Secretary
Treasurer.
Ken Peterson has over 22 years
experience in the automotive
business, 8 years of which have
been as General Manager for a
Thunder Bay Lincoln Mercury
dealership.
He is a former director and
treasurer of Northwest Energy
and served two terms on the
Thunder Bay Hydro Commission. He
was the chair of Thunder Bay
Hydro for four years and a
director and vice-chair of the
Municipal Electric Association.
Mr. Peterson has been a member
of the OMVIC Board of Directors
since June 2001 and a strong
voice for northern Ontario on
the council.
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