HALIFAX — Ontario and Quebec may have implemented mandatory speed limiters on Jan. 1, but a Nova Scotia transport official says there are no plans for that province to do the same — at least not anytime soon.

According to the Chronicle Herald, Transportation Department spokesman Steve Smith says the department hasn’t received any requests either “inside or outside the industry” to move towards speed limiter legislation.

Smith did say, however, that the province will monitor how the rule is working in other jurisdictions.

Last week, the controversial regulation requiring all truck engine speeds be capped at 105 km/h officially came online in Ontario and Quebec. There will be a six-month period of “educational enforcement,” likely making July 1, 2009 the date truck cops begin handing out fines, which are reportedly $350 per violation.

The Ontario Trucking Association, along with several other safety and insurance groups welcomes the rule. In fact, it was the OTA that first began lobbying the Ontario government in 2005 to make the change.

The Owner-Operators’ Business Association of Canada and the Missouri-based Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association both oppose it, as do countless of other independent owner-operators and drivers. OOIDA has threatened to file a legal challenge against the Ontario and Quebec governments, arguing that the rule is an impediment to free trade.

The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association supports the plan, but executive director Peter Nelson wonders if it’ll fly in Atlantic Canada.

He points out that there are only a handful of highways in the region with speed limits high enough for engine governors to be applied.

“From a government perspective, you have to wonder if it is a moot point,” he told the paper.