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Laurie in Question Period

International Drivers' Licenses

Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. When asked about timelines for exchanging international drivers’ licences for Alberta ones, the Minister of Transportation went on to describe how the process of exchange works, but the minister failed to answer the real question: why people have to wait for up to six to eight weeks without driving to find out if they are eligible for the reciprocal program. My questions today are to the Minister of Transportation. What steps have been taken to expedite the process for people from countries such as Australia, Norway, and Portugal which have not signed reciprocal agreements with Alberta?

Mr. Ouellette: Well, Mr. Speaker, we’ve been working on the nonreciprocal GDL exemption program for quite some time. In fact, the hon. Member for Edmonton-Ellerslie has been working very, very hard on this. We’ve come up with a very good program. Actually, if the hon. member next door would have talked to some of her members, my actual critic worked very hard on this, too, and is very happy with what we’ve come up with. It’s going to be put in on the 19th of January, when everything falls into effect. We’re saying that it should only take about two days to a maximum of 10 days to have the program work.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Again to the same minister: given that the minister has now had time to check on what new countries have signed agreements with the province since I first raised this issue, can the minister share with the House what those countries are, the new countries that have signed on?

Mr. Ouellette: Mr. Speaker, we have nine different countries that have signed on right now. I think we have France, that just signed off in the last four to six weeks or four to six months maybe, something like that. It’s one of those two. I know there’s a big spread there. There are nine different ones that have signed off. France has been the last one, I think, which has been less than six months ago.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, since the Department of Transportation’s website currently does not post information regarding which countries have signed reciprocal agreements and the Service Alberta website makes no note of newly signed agreements, will the minister commit to updating the websites to ensure that current information is posted, including the countries who have recently signed reciprocal agreements?

Mr. Ouellette: Mr. Speaker, that’s the easiest question I’ve ever had from that hon. member. Of course we’d like to update the public on that, and we’ll get it onto our website. Thank you.