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OUR VIEW: Veterans were right to fight for their licence plates

The B.C. government has finally come to its senses and reversed a plan to expand the veterans’ licence plate program to include retired RCMP members. This idea was always doomed to failure.
veterans licence plates
Retired Lt.-Col. Archie Steacy and the B.C. Veterans Commemorative Association fought a proposal by the province to let retired RCMP members get veterans licence plates. The group started the program in 2004 to honour military veterans.

The B.C. government has finally come to its senses and reversed a plan to expand the veterans’ licence plate program to include retired RCMP members.

This idea was always doomed to failure. 

When it was first announced, veterans were pretty upset and rightfully so. As much as we admire police for the work they do, the veterans’ licence plate program was designed to specifically honour veterans. Trying to add other people wasn’t designed as an insult to vets, but it was inevitable that it would be taken that way.

The plate program was the domain of veterans and government should have known not to mess with that.

The request for the change came from the Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Veterans’ Association, but a six-week consultation process by Attorney General David Eby’s office found public support lacking.

A group of veterans led a campaign against the change and that must’ve worked because a provincial government online survey showed a strong majority of respondents (63 per cent) favoured keeping eligibility criteria the same, while only 36 per cent were supportive of expanding it to include police officers.

The lesson is, as always, don’t mess with vets.