Jeremy,

Canadian Federal Law makes it mandatory for all new cars made to have DRLs, this began around twenty years ago. However, here in Ontario for example there is no provincial law making the use of them mandatory. I wrote an article for the Toronto Star "Wheels" section explaining this very thing, and the different DRL configurations used by manufacturers, (some use bright parking lamps, others use lower wattage high beams, some you can turn off others can't)...Having said that, turning yours off, (having them turn off with the lamp switch in "off" position) depends on your model year. Early models like my '94, required removing the switch and cutting a wire, later models had a screw adjustment "off/on" found on the back of the lamp switch, and even later models had the switch moved to the front as in the American models. If yours is an early model that requires a wire cut, let me know and I will post the directions. The end result is having the lamp switch behave like the traditional switches of the past. My wife just leaves it on the "headlamps on" position all the time. We agree that DRLs saves lives. However it's nice have the ability to turn them off when doing routine maintenance like reading codes with the engine running, or turning them off when parked streetside or in a driveway....