Albertans eager to earn their much-coveted driver's licences could face more roadblocks if the conflict between driver examiners and the province gets any worse.
Driver examiners threatened to walk off the job this week over compensation demands as they brace for deprivatization of their industry. Friday morning brought conflicting accounts of just how many followed through on job action, but one thing is clear: the fight is not over.
As of March 1, the government will take over responsibility for driver road testing from businesses that have been providing the service under a system that was privatized in 1993 by then-premier Ralph Klein.
In October, the province cited concerns raised in a June 2016 Tantus Solutions Group Inc. report on the existing driver examination model for its decision to return to government-run testing.
Those concerns include the high cost of road test fees, client complaints and availability of testing in rural areas. The report also said training and requirements for testers is minimal, with no mandatory followup training or professional development.
Alberta is the only province with a fully privatized driver examination system.
There are few people who would argue against the need for better road tests to ensure the safety of all drivers, passengers and pedestrians.
There is a demonstrated need for significant improvements in the system, as the two-year-old independent report shows.
But the manner in which the government has tackled the issue is heavy-handed.
In the words of local Drayden Insurance manager Marie Anstey, the move is like “opening a peanut with a sledgehammer.”
Anstey agrees change needed to happen. But stripping driver examiners who run successful businesses of their livelihoods without offering proper compensation is unfair.
The Certified Driver Examiners Association (CDEA), with a membership of about 100, is calling on the province to buy out driver examiners’ companies, which have been paying business taxes for 25 years and are being destroyed, at “fair market value” .
The group is also demanding its members who move over to work as public employees receive the salaries they were promised.
An official with the CDEA said Thursday it plans to file a lawsuit soon.
“What we’re trying to do is have the public realize that this could happen to any other small business in this province,” said CDEA executive director Pete Llewellyn.
Llewellyn has a valid concern but many other industries don’t have the identifiable issues that his does.
For instance, Anstey told the Gazette she has heard stories about examiners who have claimed to have conducted an impossible number of tests per day.
While anecdotal, that claim substantiates the government's argument that there are very serious issues that cannot be ignored – but bringing down the hammer on the industry was the most extreme of several options open to the government.
Instead, the province should have taken a lighter touch by regulating aspects of the industry – whether that be standardizing fees across Alberta or mandating regular testing and reporting for driving instructors. Those measures may have helped to curb some of the issues the industry faces without robbing Albertans of their businesses.
It’s critical the province now pump the brakes on its deprivatization plan, seek more input from the public and conduct more in-depth study to ensure government-run driver testing will accomplish the goal of reducing accidents, injuries and deaths on our roads.
