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OTTAWA — As pressure mounts on General Motors in the United States over its worldwide recall of 1.6 million cars for a defective ignition switch that has been linked to 12 deaths, Canadian officials are starting to take notice.
Hoang Mai, a member of the New Democratic opposition party who sits on the House of Commons’ transport committee, said on Sunday that he would ask Lisa Raitt, the transport minister, about her department’s handling of the ignition-switch issue when Parliament resumed next week.
Mr. Mai’s statement followed Transport Canada’s disclosure last week that it would investigate the links between General Motors’ ignition-switch defects and a fatal crash last June.
Not only has relatively little information about the fatal crash been released publicly, Mr. Mai said, but it is unclear how many accidents that did not lead to deaths have occurred in Canada because of the defect.
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Of the recalled cars, almost 236,000 are in Canada.
The recall covers six models, none of which are still being made: 2005-7 Chevrolet Cobalts; the 2007 Pontiac G5; 2003-7 Saturn Ions; 2006-7 Chevrolet HHRs; 2006-7 Pontiac Solstices; and the 2007 Saturn Sky. All share an ignition switch.
G.M. is replacing a defective ignition switch that if bumped can turn off the engine and electrical systems, disabling, among other things, the air bags. In a chronology of events filed with American safety regulators, the automaker has said it was alerted to the problem as early as 2001. Twice employees proposed fixes, G.M. said, but they were not made.
Sandra Boudreau, a spokeswoman for Transport Canada, said that the crash in June, which killed one person and occurred in Quebec, “appears to relate to the defect,†adding that the victim was driving one of the car models being recalled.
The Canadian regulator opened its investigation into the crash after a complaint, Ms. Boudreau said, adding that it involved a “high-severity motor-vehicle collision when the vehicle went off road and impacted multiple trees.â€
The driver, who was alone in the vehicle, was not wearing a seatbelt, she said.
The government has passed along the details about the Quebec crash to General Motors of Canada “and communications between Transport Canada and G.M. Canada have taken place in an effort to fully understand this occurrence and how it relates to the recent recall notices,†Ms. Boudreau said.
Adria MacKenzie, a spokeswoman for G.M. Canada, which is based east of Toronto in Oshawa, declined to comment on the Canadian investigation.
She did not respond to a question on whether the company was aware of other possible crashes in Canada related to the defective switches.
“G.M. Canada takes our communications with Transport Canada seriously,†she said. “Our investigation into the ignition-switch issue is ongoing and we are working diligently to reach affected customers.â€
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