In Canada, licence plate numbers are usually assigned in ascending order, beginning with a starting point such as AAA-001. Thus, someone familiar with the sequence can determine roughly when the licence plate was issued. After Ontario's transition to an ABCD-123 format in 1997, plates were issued in ascending order starting with AAAA-001. It took close to ten years to exhaust the supply of plate numbers with A as the first digit. In late 2006, plates with B as the first digit were assigned, and have continued from there sequentially. Plates with C as the first digit have been spotted in Ottawa and Toronto as of August 2016.
The gradual increase in the use of letters in the serials of licence plates has given rise to an increased possibility of unintentional profane or inappropriate words or messages arising from the use of sequential alphanumeric combinations. Thus, numbering sequences generally exclude certain combinations of letters or numbers that would be potentially offensive. Jurisdictions' attention to excluding offensive combinations varies widely, however. In 1986, Waldale, a Canadian licence plate manufacturer, due to a production error, produced an entire batch of New Brunswick plates that began with the letters ASS. The plates were issued, and were unofficially scrapped, but many found their way into the collectors' black market.
Free License Plate Lookup and Report Bad Drivers. Our license plate search engine is in BETA development, if you notice any issues, please let us know using our Contact form. FindbyPlate.com is a free resource to search by license plate numbers and report bad drivers. If most cases the website will identify the car and its basic information. If vehicles have license plates, there is a government agency that issues those plates and tracks them. The rules regarding who can access that information depend on the country, state, or province that issued the license plate. This can be somewhat difficult if the license plate was issued in a faraway place. Prior to June 14, 2019, in New Brunswick registration were officially named licence plates. In some parts of Canada, special plates are issued to persons with disabilities having the International Symbol of Access on them, which entitle them to special parking privileges. Some provinces issue a parking permit for people with disability to display on their dashboard, allowing them to park at designated spots closest to building entrances.
From 1971 to 1975, Manitoba's licence plate bore the slogan 'Sunny Manitoba: 100,000 lakes' [1] but was changed to 'Friendly Manitoba', possibly due to conflict with Minnesota's '10,000 lakes' slogan.[citation needed]
Designs and serial formats[edit]
| Province/Territory | Description | Slogan | Serial format | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | red on non-reflective white | 'Wild Rose Country' | ABC-1234 | |
| British Columbia | blue on reflective white with screened provincial flag / yello and white mountain scene with the 2019olympic symbol screened | 'Beautiful British Columbia' | AB1 23C, 2014 to 2023, (Passenger Cars)[2] AB 1234 (Passenger Trucks) | |
| Manitoba | dark blue on white with screened graphic landscape | 'Friendly Manitoba' | ABC 123 | |
| New Brunswick | red on reflective white with provincial wordmark and rainbow design | 'New Nouveau Brunswick Canada' | ABC 123 | |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | blue on reflective white with provincial wordmark | 'Newfoundland Labrador' | ABC 123 | |
| Northwest Territories | Screened nature scene, shaped like a polar bear | 'Spectacular Northwest Territories' | 123456 | |
| Nova Scotia | blue on reflective white with screened image of the Bluenose | 'Canada's Ocean Playground' | ABC 123 | |
| Nunavut | blue and white with the aurora borealis and a polar bear | 'ᓄᓇᕗᑦ Nunavut' | 123 456 | |
| Ontario | blue on reflective white with screened crown separator (commercial vehicles: black on reflective white) | 'Yours to Discover' | ABCD 123 (1997 - Passenger) AB1 234 (1995 - Commercial) 234 1AB (1996 - Commercial) AB 12345 (2011 - Commercial) | |
| 'Tant à Découvrir' | ||||
| green on reflective white with screened white trillium separator (for green vehicles such as plug-in hybrids and battery-powered electric vehicles)[3] | 'Green Vehicle' | GVAA-123 | ||
| Prince Edward Island | light brown on reflective white with photo of Province House on the left | 'Birthplace of Confederation' | 12 3AB | |
| 'Berceau de la Confédération' | 12 3AB | |||
| Quebec | dark blue on reflective white | 'Je me souviens' (I Remember) | A12 BCD | |
| green on reflective white with electric vehicle pictogram on the lower left side (for electric vehicles)[4] | ||||
| Saskatchewan | green on reflective white with screened wheat graphic | 'Land of Living Skies' | 123 ABC | |
| Yukon | black on white with screened miner image | 'The Klondike' | ABC12 | |
| Department of National Defence - All provinces and territories | black on reflective white with 'Canada' on top flanked by two red maple leaves | none | 12345 |
Ontario License Plate Search
Plate Types and Serial Formats No Longer Issued But Still Valid[edit]
| Province/Territory | Description | Slogan | Serial format | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | red on reflective white | 'Wild Rose Country' | ABC-123 | |
| red on non-reflective white | ||||
| British Columbia | blue on reflective white with screened provincial flag | 'Beautiful British Columbia' | ABC 123 (Passenger Cars 1985 to 2001) and 123 ABC (Passenger Cars 2001-2014) 1234 AB (Passenger Trucks) | |
| Manitoba | Friendly Manitoba | |||
| New Brunswick | red on reflective white with provincial wordmark | none | ABC-123 | |
| red on reflective white with provincial wordmark and rainbow design | 'Be...in this place - Être...ici on le peut' | ABC 123 | ||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | red and blue embossed on white | none | ABC-123 | |
| red on reflective white with screened Viking ship graphic | 'A World of Difference' | ABC 123 | ||
| red on reflective blue/white with screened Cabot graphic | 'Celebrate 500 Years' | ABC 123 | ||
| red on reflective white with screened provincial flag graphic | none | ABC 123 | ||
| Northwest Territories | none | |||
| Nova Scotia | blue on white | 'Canada's Ocean Playground' | ABC 123 | |
| Nunavut | none | |||
| Ontario | blue on white with embossed crown separator | 'Keep It Beautiful' | ABC 123 | |
| blue on white with embossed crown separator | 'Yours to Discover' | ABC 123 123 ABC | ||
| blue text on reflective white with screened crown separator (license plates issued to commercial vehicles are issued plates with black text on reflective white) | 'Yours to Discover' | 123 ABC | ||
| Prince Edward Island | green on white with embossed provincial crest | none | ABC 123 | |
| red on reflective white with screened Anne of Green Gables graphic | 'Home of Anne of Green Gables' | AB 123 | ||
| green on reflective green/white/blue background with screened Confederation Bridge graphic | 'Confederation Bridge' | AB 123 | ||
| green on reflective green/white/blue background with screened Province House graphic | 'Birthplace of Confederation' | AB 123 | ||
| Québec | dark blue on reflective white | 'Je me souviens' | 123A456 | |
| ABC 123 | ||||
| 123 ABC | ||||
| Saskatchewan | green on reflective white with screened wheat graphic | Land Of the Living Skies” | ABC 123 | |
| Yukon | none | |||
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Manitoba
- ^[1]
- ^'Ontario gets new green licence plates'. CBC. 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
- ^'Electric Vehicles'. SAAQ. Retrieved 2012-07-26.