Laurie in Question Period
Driver Licensing
Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. While the government is trying to draw skilled and educated workers to the province, many have to wait six to eight weeks to find out whether or not they can receive an exemption for their international drivers’ licences. Currently many countries such as Australia, Norway, and Portugal do not have reciprocal agreements with the province; therefore, people coming from these places are, well, left to walk. My question is to the Minister of Service Alberta. What countries has the minister signed agreements with since I brought this issue to her attention?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mrs. Klimchuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The whole issue of reciprocal agreements is with the Minister of Transportation, so I’d refer that to Minister Ouellette.
Mr. Ouellette: I missed what your question was, hon. member, but we do have agreements in place on the reciprocal ones, and on the nonreciprocal ones we have put out a paper on how we can make them work.
Ms Blakeman: I guess to the Minister of Transportation, then. Since there is a desperate need for skilled labour in this province, leaving new Albertans without drivers’ licences for several months while they apply for a new one is a major oversight by this government. What has the minister done to speed up the process for establishing reciprocal agreements with the additional countries?
Mr. Ouellette: Mr. Speaker, we have made lots more agreements and brought some up to date. Also, we have – I forget what we call it right now – something in place so that when they come in, all they have to do is have their paperwork together to show that they’ve had a driver’s licence in whatever country they’ve come from and that they’ve driven for two years there. They can gladly write the tests here and drive the tests and get whatever licence they need.
Ms Blakeman: That’s actually not true, Mr. Minister. They have to apply for an exemption to the process or they end up having to wait for a period of time.
What’s the goal moving forward from here? What are the new countries that the minister says he’s signed with since I asked the question in the spring? What are those new countries? Could he tell us?
Mr. Ouellette: Mr. Speaker, I’ll have to get back to her on those countries’ names. I don’t have them at the tip of my fingers or the top of my head right now. But I will tell you that she is absolutely wrong when she says that they can’t do exactly what I said in my last answer.
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