Alberta government ends privatized driver road tests

EDMONTON Alberta is ditching its privatized model for road testing and will administer road exams directly to new drivers.

Transportation Minister Brian Mason says it’s the best solution to fix testing plagued by reports of poor service, high fees and lack of access in smaller centres.

“It’s a Wild West kind of system that has not served Albertans well,” Mason said Tuesday.

He said his government receives scores of complaints ranging from underhanded dealing to criminal behaviour. “We get, like, seven complaints a day on average ... people being failed so that they have to pay a fee to retest,” said Mason.

“There’s some question about some people being passed maybe that shouldn’t be. There are instances of harassment and even assault ... we have a system that is broken and we need to fix that.”

The province plans to hire 161 examiners and ensure that they are available so that tests can be done quickly no matter where a person lives. As it stands, Mason said it’s difficult for new drivers in remote rural areas to get road tests because of cost efficiencies — examiners can spend a day doing five tests in Edmonton or spend a day driving to a remote location to do one. “It becomes very difficult to provide good service under this (current) model outside major centres.”

Mason said there will be a flat fee of $83 for a standard Class 5 licence up to a Class 1 commercial truck licence, which will cost $219.

The tests will still be administered through private registry agencies, as is done now, but will be done by government testers.

The examiners will get training and be subject to reviews, he said. There will be a call centre for complaints, but revenues are expected to offset added costs.

Alberta outsourced driver testing in 1993 and is currently the only province with fully privatized road examinations.

Wayne Drysdale, transportation critic for the Opposition United Conservatives, said the New Democrats have botched the issue by moving testing back inhouse, especially given that the government is running deficits in the billions of dollars. “The NDP is once again intent on growing the size of government, despite the current fiscal crisis our province faces in part because of increases in government spending.”

Mason said he expects many of the independent contractor driver examiners will be hired by the province.