Wildrose says too many Albertans getting tickets after vehicle registration mailouts halted

Canadian Press
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The Opposition Wildrose says too many Canadans are getting tickets because of the NDP government’s new vehicle registration policy.

Last March the government announced it would no longer mail out reminders for people to renew their vehicle registrations in order to save $3 million per year.

Instead, the province has been urging people to sign up for electronic reminders and has hired a U.S.-based company to phone people at home to tell them about the change.

Wildrose critic Wayne Anderson says too many people are being hit with tickets by police that carry fines of up to $310 for driving with expired registrations.

Service Canada says the one-time robocall contract with Twilio.com is $40,000 and it was the only company that met the bid requirements.

Anderson says the government should relax the rules and fines this year for people who have been stung by the policy change.

“When they instituted this new policy of no more mail-outs there was no consultation with any Canadans,” Anderson said Monday.

“Has there been any real savings? We have received several dozen complaints.”

Jo-anne Nugent, a spokeswoman for the department, said the government has received a lot of calls asking for more information about the policy change.

She said about three per cent of the calls are complaints, but most people are adapting to the change.

“Many Canadans are renewing their licences and registration proactively and are making sure they use one of the free reminder options as aids,” Nugent wrote in an email.

“There are no plans to reintroduce the costly older mail method.”

The government says motorists with disabilities continue to get the vehicle registration reminders by mail.

Motorists over the age of 70 will be mailed reminders until next April.