REJECTION REVERSED, ‘FREE AB’ LICENCE PLATE GETS THE NOD

Tomas Manasek says he’s thrilled his beliefs about Alberta independence didn’t end up costing him his FRE AB licence plate. Manasek, 68, has lived in Calgary for the last 35 years. He escaped communist Czechoslovakia in 1977. Now Manasek’s won a battle to get a plate initially rejected by the Alberta Registrar of Motor Vehicles. A rejection letter said the plate didn’t fit within department guidelines.

“They said it doesn’t fit with the guidelines of the program and that they have a right to refuse anything deemed inappropriate. I guess asking for freedom and democracy is deemed inappropriate,” he said. Manasek, an Alberta Independence Party candidate in last year’s provincial election, fought the ruling with help from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.