Ontario says DriveTest still has a backlog of over 700,000 tests and appointments due to the COVID-19 pandemic – the same backlog they reported back in June – and the waiting list could go on as long as 2024.
Ontario resumed in-car driving tests on June 14, after shutting them down in early April due to the third wave of COVID-19 lockdowns. Ontario says their closure earlier this year forced over 400,000 appointment cancellations.
Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha of the NDP says the backlog has been made worse in Northern and northwestern Ontario, where no appointments are available locally.
“This is especially true for those living in rural and northern Ontario,” said Mantha, during Question Period at Queen’s Park. “This backlog is clearly not sustainable. It will further hinder Ontario’s economic recovery and it increasingly adds stress onto hardworking Ontario families.”
Mantha notes that the Ontario government is reinstating renewal requirements for driver’s licences, licence plate stickers, Ontario photo cards, health cards, and other products that expired after March 1, 2020, but were extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ontario’s extended renewal deadlines for most driver’s licences, stickers, photo cards and health cards until February 28, 2022 – except for novice licences.
This means that G1, G2, M1 and M2 licence holders will have until December 31, 2022, to requalify for or upgrade their novice driver’s licence – on top of paying the fee for previous years in addition to the current year’s renewal fee.
In response, Ontario’s Associate Minister of Transportation, Stan Cho, says the Ministry of Transportation hired 167 temporary driver’s licence examiners to address the backlog, which is in addition to the additional 84 examiners hired in the fall of 2020.
“This is an important issue. DriveTest backlogs are something people are suffering from. That’s why we’re attacking the problem at the source with a $16 million plan. There are programs tailored to the unique needs in the North. We’re expecting to increase testing capacity in the region by approximately 150 per cent. We’re going to make sure we get that done and get back to prosperity in Ontario.”
Ontario also created temporary DriveTest locations in the Greater Toronto Area this summer to help the backlog, but as Mantha notes, the additional locations did not address the local backlog. However, Cho says there are part-time locations available in specific northern communities.
To book a road test, you’re asked to visit DriveTest.ca. Ontario says you should never give your driver’s licence information to a third party or to an unknown website, and DriveTest will never charge you an additional fee to book or reschedule a road test.
DriveTest locations in northwestern Ontario include Kenora, Dryden, Sioux Lookout, Ear Falls and Red Lake.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, masks, hand sanizitizer and screening questions are mandatory for road tests, windows must be open to allow airflow and drivers are required to provide their phone number for contact tracing purposes. All DriveTest staff wear personal protective equipment during the test.