Cherished Number Plates News

Canadian Number Plates Due For An Overhaul

03 October 2008

The government’s decision to overhaul what is undoubtedly become an Alberta symbol was spurred by the fact the province is expected to run out of number plate number combinations for automobiles by April 2009.

There are more than 2.2 million passenger-class number plates in the province and about 900,000 plates left for registrations. The province issues about 500,000 plates a year, as old or damaged plates are not re-circulated.

"Are they more interested in expressing themselves individually in licence plates?" he added. "We just want to get a little bit proactive about how Albertans feel about their number plates and what message they would like to send."

Alberta's three-letter, three-digit tags -- which include a white plate, red numbers, floral graphic and words Wild Rose Country -- feature one of the oldest plate designs in North America. It was released in 1983 and replaced the old yellow plate with black characters.

Number plates are undoubtedly a popular way for Albertans to express themselves, and people take them seriously.

In 2004, in the midst of the mad cow fallout, some 1,000 Alberta licence plates beginning with the letters BSE were manufactured and shipped out by the provincial government. Many vehicle owners refused to put them on their car and the province ended up recalling many of them.