If you’re like me, you’ve been putting off renewing your licence plate sticker.
For me, it is simply a case of being too lazy to head on down to the ServiceOntario office to get the new stickers. It was also my birthday present to myself this year – not forking over the $120 per vehicle on my birthday. Instead, I opted to wait until the Ontario government says, “Give us your money.”
That day is Feb. 28.
As we reported a few weeks ago, the deadline to renew your licence plate sticker, health card, driver’s licence and other documents is Feb. 28. Since the early days of the pandemic, the province has “paused” collecting these fees as a way to help our residents financially during “these unprecedented times,” as Premier Doug Ford would say.
Last summer, I proactively renewed my stickers for 2021. When I went into our local ServiceOntario office, the agent behind the counter told me it was a good idea that I came in.
“I used to work for the Ministry of Transportation,” she said. “If I learned anything, it’s that they always get their money. And I guarantee you they will want all of it, not just the current year, when they decide to start collecting again.”
A few short months later, the province announced that all documents with renewal dates extended by COVID-19 would have to be renewed by Feb. 28, 2022.
Oh, and that ServiceOntario agent was correct.
“You must renew your documents and pay all applicable fees,” states the Ontario website.
However, there is also a rumour the Ontario government is looking at scrapping the licence plate sticker for passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles (including pick-up trucks) and motorcycles.
As someone who hates paying $120 per plate once a year, I am all for this. However, the realist in me says this is a bad idea.
According to a CTV News article on Feb. 7, eliminating the stickers would cost the Ontario government $1 billion per year in revenue.
One billion dollars. Per year.
That’s a lot of dough.
I’m not an accountant, but even I know eliminating $1 billion in annual revenue is not good for the bottom line.
Considering most areas of the public sector are in short supply of cash – just look at the health care system right now, with its shortage of nurses and beds – eliminating $1 billion from the revenue stream is only going to exacerbate those problems.
Unless that means $1 billion in expenses is cut somewhere else.
The most likely scenario is this is merely a “leak” to media to win favour for the Conservative Party ahead of the provincial election in June. However, let’s pretend this is something under consideration and not a campaign promise.
As I’ve already stated, health care can’t take many more cuts without going to a privatization model (a scary thought in itself). The education sector can’t withstand additional financial reductions either. However, many suggest merging the public and Catholic school systems would save the province millions. Maybe that is something the government is considering behind closed doors?
But that’s another argument for another day.
My point is, as much as I would welcome not paying for a licence plate sticker every year, we’ll end up paying for it in the end.
It’s just a matter of how.
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Mike Wilson is the editor of the Listowel Banner, Walkerton Herald-Times, Wingham Advance Times and the Independent Plus. Feedback and comments are welcome at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
