JPSM Golf, a Pickering-based business, is battling a $182,883.95 tax bill after the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) labeled its electric golf trolleys as Chinese electric vehicles. Owner Joseph McLuckie is seeking a remission from the Department of Finance to avoid a financial crisis that could threaten his employees' jobs.
The $182,883.95 bill for 330 golf trolleys
The financial dispute centers on a 40-foot container that arrived from China in April 2025, containing 330 Formula Remote trolleys... As CTV News Toronto reported, Joseph McLuckie originallly paid the standard 6.1 per cent import tariff, totaling just over $19,000. However, thirteen months later, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reviewed the shipment and reclassified the products under the China Surtax Order.
This reclassification triggered a 100 per cent levy on top of the existing tariff, leaving JPSM Golf with a staggering debt.. Joseph McLuckie, who grew the business from a home basement in Leaside to a 9,000-square-foot storefront in Pickering, stated that he is now facing sleepless nights over the potential loss of cash reserves needed to pay his six long-term employees.
How Merriam-Webster definitions turned trolleys into EVs
The logic used by the Canada Border Services Agency to justify the tax is based on linguistic interpretation rather than industry standards. According to the report, the CBSA cited Merriam-Webster and Cambridge dictionaries to argue that because the trolleys use an electric motor for propulsion to transport golf bags, they "undoubtedly" qualify as motor vehicles. The agency even suggested that if a traditional wheelbarrow can be viewed as a vehicle, a golf trolley certainly can be as well.
Trade and customs lawyer Greg Kanargelidis argues that this is a fundamental misapplication of the law. He contends that the surtax was designed to protect Canada's automotive industry—meaning passenger cars and delivery vans—not specialized sporting equipment. JPSM Golf maintains that the products should be classified under tariff code 9506.03,which specifically covers golf equipment and accessories.
180 remission requests and the China Surtax Order
The plight of JPSM Golf is part of a larger pattern of friction caused by the China Surtax Order, which took effect in October 2024 and was repealed on March 1, 2026. A Department of Finance Canada official confirmed to CTV News Toronto that the ministry has received more than 180 requests for remission for goods caught under this specific order since its inception.
This volume of requests suggests that the legal wording of the surtax was broad enough to inadvertently capture a wide array of non-automotive imports. For small businesses, this creates a precarious environment where a product's classification can be retroactively changed,turning a routine import into a business-threatening liability.
MP Juanita Nathan and the fight for tariff code 9506.03
Support for JPSM Golf has expanded to include political and industry advocacy. Pickering-Brooklin MP Juanita Nathan and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) have both lobbied the federal finance ministry on behalf of the company. Corinne Pohlmann , the CFIB's executive vice-president of advocacy, described the situation as a clear misclassification, questioning the logic of labeling a golf trolley as a Chinese EV.
The path to resolution now depends on whether the Department of Finance grants a remission order or if the CBSA accepts a redetermination of the tariff code. While the CBSA claims it cannot deviate from the wording of a surtax order, it noted that the Minister of Finance possesses the authority under section 115 of the Customs Tariff to recommend relief to the Governor in Council.
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