‘Broken’ road-test model to be fixed, minister says

EDMONTON Driver examiners will be hired as public service employees after the province announced a slew of changes to Alberta’s road-test model.

“It’s pretty clear that we have a system that’s broken and we need to fix that,” said Transportation Minister Brian Mason at a Tuesday news conference.

Changes include standardizing fees across the province, launching a call centre to receive complaints from the public and ensuring that rural residents can access road tests.

Mason said road testing is a basic government function and should never have been privatized in 1993.

A 2016 independent report raised concerns about Alberta’s road test system, including inconsistent fees.

In July, the province asked for feedback on a plan to improve road testing and driver training.

“Almost 90 per cent of Albertans want standardized fees,” Mason said.

The province will hire 161 examiners, up from the current 153 private employees who are operating in Alberta. “We’re interested in hiring them in the public service,” Mason said. “They’re the people who know the job.

“People who have not performed well in the past will be screened out.”

United Conservative Party transportation critic Wayne Drysdale said the NDP’s move is a drastic overreach.

“The private-sector has successfully been fulfilling this role for 25 years,” he said in an email statement Tuesday. “Generations of Albertans have received their driver’s licences through private sector examiners without issue.

“It appears that the NDP is once again intent on growing the size of government.”

The new fee grid includes $83 for a Class 5 road test and $138 for the advanced test, costing slightly less than the current average fee across the province.

“The tests themselves are going to remain substantially the same,” Mason said.

The exception will be road testing for professional commercial trucking licences, which will change on the heels of a review of the industry, he said.

“I would say it’s going to be more rigorous,” Mason said of qualifying for Class 1 and 2 licences.

The move follows the Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6 that killed 16 people and injured another 13.

The truck driver charged in the crash worked for a Calgary-based company.

Mason said the province will announce more on that within the next two weeks.

Registries will continue to work as the government’s service provider to issue licences after testing, said Service Alberta Minister Brian Malkinson.

“The key difference is that examiners will be Government of Alberta employees and will be identified as such,” he said.

The new system will also ensure rural communities have access to examiners qualified to test all licence classes, he said.

“Every Albertan can go into any registry agent, have a road test at the same price and get the same level of service, whether you’re in downtown Edmonton or Grimshaw, Mayerthorpe or High Level.”

The changes outlined Tuesday will essentially be “cost neutral,” Mason said.

It will cost $2.7 million in operating expenses in 2018-19 and $15.9 million in 2019-20 onward.

“Those costs will be offset by the revenue from road test fees.”