Alberta registry agents 'frustrated' at wait times for services like road tests

Long delays at Alberta registries Watch: The UCP government says the previous government's plan to streamline registries has failed. Stephanie Wiebe reports.

Alberta's Minister of Service Alberta is meeting with numerous registry agents across the province, hearing about the growing pains since certain services transitioned, under the NDP, from a private sector model to government supervision.

Road tests are regulated under Alberta Transportation, but Alberta registries are where driver's licenses are issued, and operators say increased wait times have been causing issues.

"Albertans are frustrated, registry agents are frustrated and we've put forward a proposal to try and improve it," said Craig Couillard, president of the Alberta Registry Agents Association.

The previous NDP government implemented the changes, which took effect March 1.

For the Registry Agents Association, the experience has been a change for the worse.

"The new road test model has certainly has not enhanced service to Albertans," Couillard said. "If anything it's been a huge step back."

Service Alberta Minister Nate Glubish met with Couillard in Calgary as part of a nine day tour.

"Every single family in Alberta deals with a registry at least once a year, whether you are registering your car, getting your driver's license, (or) getting a birth certificate," said Glubish.

"It is unacceptable that under the previous government's watch, we fell to last in the country for modern online service delivery of some of these things," he added.

Other priority topics of the tour include the Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Act and rural Internet.