The idea of a National ATV/Quad Association was born at the COHV National Conference in 2001 called“meeting of the minds”. The difficulty in moving the idea forward at that time, was that most of the Provincial rider federations were in their infancy and lacked the financial strength to move the idea forward!

In October 2004 I contacted The Canadian Off Highway Vehicle Distributors Council – COHV and got a list of contacts: Rick Noseworthy-NL, Ray Gouthro-NS, Jacques Poirier-NB, Danny Gagnon-Que, John Broderick-Ont, Bob Smith-Alta, Pat McHugh-BC and we spent thousands of telephone hours building the framework of what is now known as AQCC. On October 06, 2006 almost 2 years to the day, AQCC was incorporated and I would like to thank the above members for their dedication in making this happen.

The 7 delegates mentioned above share a passion to unite the common goals and help the rider federations to build strength through sharing ideas and relationship building.

Although Ray Gouthro, Danny Gagnon and Bob Smith are credited with being the founding directors of AQCC, it would not have been possible without the effort of all 7 delegates.

The mandate of AQCC is simple; “to improve the sport of All Terrain Vehicle/Quad Riding nationally”. As the 7 original delegates, we realize the rider federations may change there representation on the AQCC board for one reason or another, but we hope the mandate and the guiding principles will help them represent their rider federation wisely. Note- AQCC is not a governing body!

The Canadian Off Highway Vehicle Distributors Council – COHV was a tremendous help with financial and data support. Without the data support provided by COHV our job in bringing this all together would have been difficult to say the least. Without the financial support it would have been impossible and for this help we would like to recognize COHV as partners in the birth of AQCC.

Ray Gouthro, Former President and Founding Member