Government-Provincial
Push to ditch front plate gains traction
By Tammy Scott-Wallace
Kings County Record
11 Jun 2013 04:26PM
SUSSEX — This province may be catching up with its neighbours and ditching the front licence plate. Bruce
Northrup, natural resources minister and Kings East MLA, said citizens
have cast such a sharp spotlight on the issue of added costs to have two
plates on a vehicle that the government is paying close attention.
The
move to eliminate the front plate drew a lot of hype the past week with
a YouTube video posted by citizens’ group FixNB. As of Monday
morning, the clip that calls on the province to move to a single-plate
system to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year reached
68,365 views. “We
need to keep this on the radar,” Northrup said. “It’s been an on again,
off again subject for years. It’s something we have to look closely at
and finally address once and for all within the next month or so. “It
does make sense if you look at P.E.I. and Nova Scotia, where they only
have one plate. We need more information but we’re going to get it.”
For
years one of Northrup’s constituents, JC Robert Lockhart, has been
pushing the province to move to a single plate. He is adamant the added
cost is poor fiscal management. He is not part of the FixNB group but he likes what they’ve been up to on the plate issue. The
Sussex area man says if the province is going to “nickel and dime” its
people, it’s only fair it takes advantage of the obvious money saver. “As it stands, the provincial government is missing out on a $370,000 opportunity,” Lockhart said. He is referring to the cost Saskatchewan claims it has saved annually since 2004 when it cut back on double licence plates.
For
the past couple governments Lockhart has been lobbying decision makers
to follow suit with the other Atlantic Canadian provinces by scrapping a
car’s front metal plate.
He
said “in this day and age” governments have to reduce every cent it
can. In the case of double plates, he insists, there are no clear
benefits “More than half of North America is going this way,” Lockhart said. “Two
costs more than one – I don’t care if it’s only a 10-cent difference,
I’m looking for savings. I’m just one individual who believes one
individual can make a difference.
“Going to one plate just makes good business sense.”
Lockhart
also said with other licenced vehicles like ATVS, trailers and
snowmobiles only requiring one plate in New Brunswick, the inconsistency
is confusing, senseless and costly.
He
has been reaching out via email to Public Safety Minister Robert
Trevors, Finance Minister Blaine Higgs and Northrup and says he has
received favourable responses.
Three
territories and six provinces have already phased out front licence
plates, leaving only four provinces with “obsolete front plates,”
according to the video entitled Drop Front Licence Plates in New
Brunswick.
Its
creators say the three-minute recording could be the first in a series
that calls for a complete reform of New Brunswick vehicle inspections
and a winter tire law. Last
week New Brunswick RCMP Cpl. Chantal Farrah deferred questions on a
single licence plate to the Department of Public Safety. Public
Safety spokeswoman Deb Nobes said in a statement that “there is a
two-plate rule in New Brunswick and, at this time, government is not
contemplating changing that.”
The recurring argument that the plates are first and foremost a means for law enforcement is refuted by Lockhart. “The
RCMP in Nova Scotia doesn’t need two licence plates but the RCMP in New
Brunswick do?” he said. “How many people do you see backing away from
an accident or backing away from a robbery?” The
video states many new automobiles are also now designed without mounts
for a front plate, and added money to provincial coffers could be used
to benefit essential services like health and education.
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