In light of the recent decision by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to make permanent the exemption for handheld two-way radios for commercial drivers and Amateur Radio operators, we have reviewed the regulations in Canada and, to the best of our knowledge, the exemptions in all other provinces and territories are “permanent” (i.e., with no defined end date).

The one exception is Nunavut where there is apparently no exemption.

These regulations are made and enforced by Provincial and Territorial governments and can vary considerably from province/territory to province/ territory and over time and are subject to change. In addition, in some cases, the text of the exemption may be somewhat ambiguous and open to interpretation.

The review and the updated links are available on the Distracted Driving webpage - https://www.rac.ca/distracted-driving/